To the End
by Kagekyuubi
Summary: Will he see it to the end? Or will everything crumble before he can even come close? Everything plays into his destiny but can he decide what it will be?
1. Two Shadows

I do not own the story or characters in Naruto but I'd love to have the fortune that comes with it.

"Speech"

'Thought'

PROLOGUE: TWO SHADOWS

The moon up high in the sky radiated its silver glow on the sea of trees that surrounded the ninja village of Konoha. What many people would have considered a beautiful night was currently something that was placed somewhere at the bottom of their list of priorities as thoughts of evacuation and safety filled their minds as they ran around panicking, heading to the closest emergency zone.

However, at one secluded and shadowy spot up on Hokage mountain, a man in his thick dark cloak sat watching the chaos taking place before him. He was waiting for something. This position gave him the perfect view over the events that were taking place just outside the village.

He was about to take a sip from the cup in his hand when something else grabbed his attention. It was a man's shadow. It suddenly appeared to his right and if he didn't know any better he would have killed the source of the silhouette the moment it appeared.

"Did you give it to him yet?" inquired the shadow's owner as he himself stepped into view.

Not answering immediately, the cloaked man drank from the cup in his right hand as the inquirer walked towards him.

"Well?" said the man still demanding an answer.

The other end of the conversation smiled as something in the distance gained his attention.

"See for yourself," said the cloaked man as he gestured to one particular part of Konoha's forest.

The other individual shifted his gaze towards that area and saw smoke erupt throughout the forest.

A gigantic toad leaped out of that smoke screen and crashed into the demon that shared a small portion of its history with Konoha.

Offering his companion a bottle of sake, the cloaked man said, "Have a drink."

"Thanks," he replied as he gulped down the alcohol before throwing it aside. He then held out an open palm to the person at the other end of the conversation. "Hand me another one."

"Here you go," complied the cloaked man as he handed over another sake bottle.

"Hn," said the man as he downed another bottle of sake. "Where did you get this from? Tastes familiar."

"Oh, I stole it from one of your people. Top class Uchiha-brewed sake."

"I see… pass me another one."

"Sure, it'll be fun to see you suffering from a Biju-sized hangover," said the cloaked man as he passed another bottle to his friend. Just as the bottle reached the open palm everything went silent.

Both men knew what this meant.

"He's quick…"

"He wouldn't have that name if he wasn't.

Obviously it wasn't a consequence of hearing impairment. It was the consequence of their actions.

Another one of the Tailed Beasts was about to be sealed.

Time seemingly stood still for everyone as a giant a ball of red hot fire got sucked into a small silhouette on top of the giant toad. The redness of the sight slowly dissipated into the small silhouette until it completely disappeared.

"Well then, we better get going. We have potential recruits waiting for us in the country of rain," said the man who still held the unopened sake bottle in his right hand. He started to stand up but his companion pulled him down by the shoulder.

"Before that, a toast," said the cloaked man holding an opened sake bottle in his other hand. His companion looked at him with undecipherable expression.

"To what?"

A smirk could be seen under his companion's hood.

"To that guy, of course. It's not everyday someone dies saving their home."

"Hn," grunted the man. "Fine."

Both men then lifted up the bottle in their hands towards the one in the other's hand.

"To Minato-san. May his face be on these walls the next time I come to visit."

Finishing up the sake in their hands, they stood up and threw their bottles off the mountain.

"Let's go."

11th May 2008 EDIT

Decided to rework the chapters so that the wording is more fluid and some events a bit more realistic. Overall there are no major changes to the story, just minute detail to tie in story events better with everything. I'll make a real update by next week if my schedule finally frees up. Here's hoping it will.


	2. First Day of School

Don't own Naruto but I do own the computer that I wrote this with

Don't own Naruto but I do own the computer that I wrote this with.

"Speech"

'Thought'

CHAPTER 1: FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Eight years have passed since the nine-tailed fox came to Konoha. Eight years is exactly the age of the child that was used to seal up that fox. To that child, today was the start of his second year at the ninja academy. Usually this meant that a number of children would be feeling the dread of coming back to school and listening to more boring lectures given by equally boring teachers. Uzumaki Naruto didn't.

That is because the blue-eyed blonde wearing a mostly orange shirt and black shorts had somehow managed to spike all of the academy teacher's dinners with laxatives of the highest concentration the day before at their annual 'New Term' dinner slash therapeutic session.

Unless someone decided to go on a diet, there would be no teachers coming today giving him some time to set up some traps for when they come back. At least that's what he thought would happen until he reached the academy and saw two chuunin outside the main door ushering in the students that just arrived. Feeling somewhat annoyed at his scheme failing, Naruto joined the other students inside receiving two glares full of malicious intent as he entered the building.

During the brief walk to his class, Naruto noticed two things; 1) There were adults dressed in weird clothes walking around the building that occasionally threw him an angry look 2) None of these people were their regular academy instructors. This led him to two separate conclusions. Either the laxatives worked and they replaced all the academy teachers or enemy ninja have invaded the village, disguised themselves as their own forces and intend to either kill or kidnap the future ninja of Konoha. What should he do about this?

Doing what any eight year old with an attention span of a rat would do, he ignored it.

Upon reaching his classroom Naruto made two more observations, the classroom was as silent as the Konoha graveyard despite there being at least 20 others kids inside and that the doorframe inside of the class was embedded with numerous sharp objects and what appeared to be a blackboard eraser.

He suddenly felt a sensation that he later would attribute as the instinct to survive followed by a thump sound to his left. He saw that another sharp object had just been added to the doorframe and it had come from an angry looking kunoichi wearing a brown trenchcoat over her less than modest fishnet shirt and brown miniskirt. Stricken with fear over a near death experience Naruto stood bug-eyed there in shock.

"Sit down!" growled the angry looking woman who was glaring at Naruto.

He promptly did so. And after watching three more similar incidents happen to 3 other kids and a parent, the kunoichi deemed that everyone was here. She looked at all of them with a look befitting of a carnivorous creature that served to instill even more fear.

"I'm Mitarashi Anko, your substitute for today. Don't do anything to piss me off and you'll live," said the young woman in a dark tone that would have scared even bravest of men.

"What happened to Nozomu-sensei, ma'am?" asked one foolish student nervously.

"All your regular instructors are currently being treated at the hospital for eating a shit load of laxatives. Care to see what it feels like?" she replied as she held out the large box of laxatives that Naruto had forgotten to dispose off yesterday. "You can ask Naruto-kun over there if you're interested. I'm so going to work your asses off for ruining my day off!"

Every other kid then looked at the guilty party with looks of contempt. Realizing that everyone was going to make him suffer later, he thought that it'd be a good idea to hop off to somewhere very far away while their temper cooled down.

That would be the reason for his jumping out of the window.

"You won't get me!" shouted Naruto as his body vanished from sight.

Anko wasn't really expecting this but she welcomed this turn of events.

Some of the girls were started screaming. Everyone else joined in when Anko herself jumped over them and out the window.

Faster than they could see, she quickly grabbed onto the window frame and swung herself upwards noticing that there was some rope hanging by the window leading to the roof. Unfortunately this caused even more chaos since everyone suddenly came to the conclusion that they both committed suicide.

When she got up to the roof she immediately saw the orange clad boy running across a board of wood that connected the academy roof to another building. She gave chase when the little boy saw her climbing onto the edge of the roof.

By the time Naruto had crossed over the other building, Anko was about to leap over to the other building intending to land on top of the little brat. That would have happened too if Naruto hadn't pulled up the board with the length of rope attached to the academy's end of the board revealing it to be a makeshift drawbridge. Quickly, she grabbed the top of the board and flipped over it avoiding a collision with wood, landing on the roof the building instead.

She couldn't see any sign of the orange brat though.

Instead she saw that there was a trap door in the drawbridge that had the same rope that Naruto pulled passing through it. Upon inspecting the rope further, Anko found that it was long enough to reach the ground and that the brat was just about to run out of the alley in between both buildings.

'Crafty little brat,' thought Anko. Licking her lips at the thought of hunting down her prey, she leaped off to chase after Naruto. 'This is going to be fun.'

--

Meanwhile at the academy…

"Where's Anko! Her class is causing a ruckus!"

"The kids kept screaming that she and that brat jumped out of the window!"

"Gahh! I shouldn't have to deal with this! And that Anko just left us to deal with the mess she left behind!"

"Damn! They're almost causing as much trouble as Itachi does!"

"Yeah, usually we have to deal with explosions when Itachi-kun's does something."

"As his former instructor, I must say that even though he's like family and it still doesn't compare to the relief I feel from not having to keep him out of trouble anymore."

"Yeah!"

"I couldn't have said it any better!"

Somehow the conversation topic changed from the calamity that was left to them and to the joys of not having to deal with their former teammate. The students who were there when this conversation took would later claim to have seen an Uchiha crying tears of joy.

--

Much later that day…

Naruto was panting from exhaustion. Right now he was hiding in the forest near the Uchiha compound from the psychotic kunoichi who nearly killed him several times today. She was hell bent on catching him, he had to use most of the traps he set up in the village just to slow her down.

He also witnessed very strange things going on that day as he ran past a man with a crab in hair, a restaurant flooded with water, a squad of policemen screaming something about weasels, a number of explosions that he didn't cause, a kid buried in the ground up to his neck who seemed to be deep in concentration and a yellow penguin writing something on a scroll. He didn't have time to stop to find out what's been going on even though the last two things on that list were in the vicinity themselves. Running from Anko was proving to be harder than running from the ANBU that chased him around last year.

Naruto scanned the area he was in to make sure she wasn't around and it looked he lost her. He decided then that it was okay to take a quick rest to get back some of the energy he used up from running.

He sat down against a tree but noticed there was something odd about the ground he was sitting on. He scooted a bit to his left and found that it looked like someone tried to bury something under the spot he was sitting on. Curious as to what it might be, he dug it up.

--

At the same time on top of a roof…

"Damn, that brat's good! I didn't think he was such a sneaky little bastard!" ranted Anko to the ANBU in her present company. "He's as almost as tricky as you were at his age."

"Should I take that as a compliment or as an insult?" asked the ANBU. "Anyway, I shouldn't be here, I have some patrol work to do."

"You also shouldn't have played with that restaurant's plumbing."

"They asked me to help them stop that leak."

"By kicking it? You even used that jutsu of yours."

"I'm a ninja not a plumber." Said the ANBU with a bored look on his face. Anko couldn't see it through his mask though as seeing such an expression combined with his actions would have been enough to trigger the Hokage's ire.

"Say…isn't that your brother over there buried in the ground over there? Does your mom know about this?"

"Told him that it was a training exercise that we practiced in ANBU."

"Kakashi-taichou's still tearing up headquarters for his book. Want me to tell him how he 'lost' it?"

"I suggest a pincer attack. I come in from the north while you rush him from the south. Are lethal techniques usable for this plan, Anko-sempai?" said the ANBU in the most respectful tone he could muster.

Anko grinned.

"Good boy. You're free to use any of your lethal techniques seeing as that brat managed to dodge mine just in time. That brat could probably come back from the dead with the help of his little friend anyway. The little bugger runs like the wind and he's really crafty 'cause a bunch of the traps he pulled nearly got me."

"Is that all?"

"Well don't bother trying Kanashibari on him, seems to be immune to that."

"I see. I think I got another idea. Here's what we do…"

--

With Naruto…

"Wow… I didn't know you could do all this stuff with that charka thing sensei's been talking. I could have a lot of fun with this," said the grinning Naruto who holding a dirty looking scroll. Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps coming towards him. Alarmed, Naruto tucked the scroll inside his jacket and started running away from the footsteps. 'Damn I don't even have any traps ready for her.'

Hoping to lose his pursuer ran as fast as he could for quite some time until he didn't hear the footsteps anymore. By this time he nearly reached the other end of the forest and was very close to passing out. He had no intention of passing out yet. Home was just a few blocks away from the forest. He'd faint there and no one would be able to find him in one of his secret compartments.

Scuffling towards his destination, he was determined not to get caught. But just as he's about get out of the forest, Anko appeared from behind the corner of the building and started running towards him. He quickly got ready to run back into the forest but when he turned around he saw a black hooded figure wearing a mask just right behind him.

'How did he!' were Naruto's last thoughts before a powerful geyser of water sprouted from under him immediately knocking him unconscious and several meters up in the air.

Anko swiftly jumped into the air catching him just before he would have been impaled by a tree. Landing back onto the ground near the ANBU, Anko grinned.

"Got him!" said the woman who was holding an eight year old boy up in the air by his right foot. She lifted him higher to see his face hoping to see a terrified expression only to find a peacefully sleeping one. "Che! He's out. Hmm… he's kinda cute when he's asleep."

"Can I go now?"

"Nope! You're bringing him to the hospital for me?" she said throwing Naruto in the air for the other party to catch.

Which he didn't.

"Why? I already did my job."

"I can now add nearly killing a village V.I.P. to my little black book, you know. I mean that geyser was overkill." she said with a look that should be on the cheshire cat.

"Didn't you try to hit him even deadlier techniques than that one? Those cuts and tears are counted as proof."

"I'm pretty beat right now... I think I'll go back to HQ to take a nap. Hope I don't talk in my sleep while Kakashi-taichou's around... " she yawned as she stretched her arms.

"…Fine."

"Oh! And I want you to tell the brat something for me when he wakes up."

After listening to a last message from Anko for Naruto, the ANBU left for the hospital.

--

The Hospital

"Can you take me to see Dr. Zetsumei?" those were the words that Naruto heard when he woke up in the arms of the ANBU he nearly ran into earlier. Said ANBU noticed this and promptly dropped the academy student onto the floor resulting in a stern lecture from the nurse at the reception.

"Ooowwwww…" moaned Naruto as he got up. He glared at the ANBU that was being lectured by a nurse and said, "That hurt."

"Don't care." Whether this was a response to Naruto's whine or the nurse's lecture, it wasn't clear. The nurse then looked down at her clipboard to check for something.

"Dr. Itoshiki is free in room 4," said the nurse. In response the ANBU dragged the still whining Naruto by the collar towards his destination. Eventually Naruto stopped that and begain to question the ANBU.

"Where am I? Where's that crazy lady who was chasing me? Why am I wet? How'd you sneak up on me? I didn't hear you come near me! And that double teaming wasn't fair!"

"You are in the hospital. That crazy lady decided that she had enough fun for today and let you off the hook. I dropped you into a pond on the way to wake you up. Didn't work though and you nearly drowned. And I used one of my personal wind techniques so that you couldn't hear me coming. Double teaming you isn't unfair, it's called strategy. You should remember that for the future if you want to be aninja. Any other questions?" replied the ANBU quickly and in a single breath.

"You tried to drown me!" shouted an appalled Naruto inciting several more stares towards the pair.

"No, I tried to wake you up. The drowning was just an added bonus. Any other questions?" said the ANBU as the young blonde started twitching his right eye. They were now at the door of room 4. The ANBU knocked on the door four times and said, "You know, you're one lucky kid. Not many people can get Anko-sempai to let them off. You also didn't get killed by a tree and lived through drowning. You even got to touch Anko-sempai."

Naruto became even more annoyed at the ANBU but also confused about how a tree could possibly kill him along with getting a hug from the crazy lady.. Before he could say anything though, the door opened to reveal a pale bespectacled young man with somewhat spiky hair wearing a white coat and nametag that said Dr. Itoshiki. It was then Naruto realized something.

"Why did you call him Dr. Zetsumei?" asked Naruto pointing to the doctor in question. Even though no one could see it, the ANBU smirked.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" shouted the doctor as he slammed his head into the door repeatedly. Naruto was appalled at the doctor's reaction.

"That's why." said the ANBU pointing at the seemingly insane doctor.

--

Naruto and the ANBU had to quietly wait for half an hour before Dr. Itoshiki finally calmed down. Naruto didn't get bored watching the strange reaction for that period of time but he did wonder if this happened so often that the nurses simply ignore it.

"What do you want me to do for you?" asked the strange doctor.

"Give him a full physical check up. Throw in a rectal exam too," said the ANBU.

"Very well, I'll do the rectal exam first." said the doctor as he proceeded as he took out what appeared to be a long metal tube out of a vacuum sealed plastic bag that Naruto had no idea what it would be used for.

"I'll leave him to you then. I have to get Sasuke out of the ground before mom starts looking for him," said the ANBU as he was about to step out of the office. "Oh! Nearly forgot. Kid, Anko-sempai also said that she'll be hunting you down for fun in the future whenever she has off days."

Naruto shivered. The door closed and Naruto thought of something.

"Dr Zetsu-" the doctor twitched. "I mean Dr. Itoshiki. What's that metal thing for?"

On the other side of the door, the ANBU was waiting for the sound that he'd usually hear from his little brother.

'KYAAAAA!"

'Heh. Screams just like him too' thought the ANBU as he walked from the room.

Say what you want but even though it seems like what happened in this chapter isn't that significant, it will play into the story. Rest assured, that ANBU will still massacre the Uchiha clan but will not take Naruto with him. Anko will not adopt Naruto or start treating him like a little brother but will play a role in his character development.

The way I see it the academy teaches them mostly about survival techniques, traps and taijutsu during their first year while teachings bits about charka. Second year will most likely focus even more on that, tactics, equipment and teaching them how to use charka. Third year will train them in jutsus and putting all that knowledge together. Judging by canon they probably allow children enroll as early as six years old but most people wait till they're a bit older.

If Naruto seems a little too quiet for his personality in this story so far, it is because he's still eight and hasn't decided to put on a happy energetic persona but he still loves pranks. Most of the traps he set up in the village were for escape routes from academy instructors and to play tricks on unsuspecting civilians.

Crossovers this chapter includes Disgaea and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. I'll probably keep them around. Zetsumei means Death, now go put 2 and 2 together.

I'll probably be releasing chapters in batches since it took me two days to finish off two chapters and one side story. And now please enjoy the side story.

11th May 2008 EDIT

Decided to rework the chapters so that the wording is more fluid and some events a bit more realistic. Overall there are no major changes to the story, just minute detail to tie in story events better with everything.

Changed Fireduck mushrooms to Hikamo since fireduck sounded out of place. It means fireduck by the way.

ITACHI AND THE PEG-LEGGED CREATURE

On one fine day we find an 8 year old Uchiha Itachi sitting against a tree. He is currently on a D class mission with his team just outside of the Konoha to look for 20 kilograms worth of Hikamo mushrooms. At least that's what he was supposed to be doing instead of slinking off to sleep under a nice shady tree while his team tires themselves out looking for mushrooms. He stayed like that for some time before one of his 12 year old teammates found him and gave him a noticeable bump on his head.

"Shisui, that hurt," was what Itachi said in monotonous voice and an expression one would use while pointing out something obvious to a clueless teammate. This only fuelled the older Uchiha's irritation towards his younger cousin prompting him to hit Itachi on the head one more time.

"You're supposed to be slaving away to find 5 kilos worth of mushrooms just like the rest of us, you idiot!" said Shisui in a very irritated way. Itachi then simply yawned at that. More fuel to the fire.

"Already found them before we left. Now let me get some sleep," said the 8 year old prodigy before he lazily got back into his previous position. Shisui had his mouth wide open for two seconds while trying to process how his cousin had acquired Hikamo mushrooms before they left. Those particular mushrooms only grew in the wild and the only ones who had any Hikamo mushrooms at this time were top class restaurants, this reasoning lead to only one logical explanation.

"Who did you steal them from?" asked Shisui while glaring at his younger cousin knowing that he wasn't going to like the answer. Itachi still had his eyes closed.

"I borrowed them from the Akamichi who runs that 5-star restaurant in the guest zone after we left the tower. He had just enough for my share of the mission," said Itachi as if he hadn't just committed a crime. Once again Shisui launched another dose of possible head trauma onto his cousin.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU STOLE FROM SOMEONE! AND FROM ONE OF THOSE TUBS OF LARD! DIDN'T AUNT MIKOTO TEACH YOU THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG!" screamed Shisui into Itachi's ear. Itachi remain unfazed. Shisui's left eye twitched before he screamed to the sky just as a madman would. "GOD! I BEG OF YOU! DON'T LET SASUKE BE LIKE HIM! IF YOU'RE AS MERCIFUL AS THEY SAY, DON'T LET SASUKE TURN INTO ANOTHER ITACHI!"

'Cool. He's actually crying,' thought as he watched plead to an imaginary figure in the skies. 'Hmmm. Better leave before he starts lecturing me,' thought Itachi. "Maybe you should go somewhere higher so he can hear you." Shisui stopped for amoment to look at Itachi.

"Good idea!" shouted the seemingly crazy Uchiha be fore he jumped upwards towards the top of the tree to continue his prayers.

And with that Itachi left his hysterical cousin on his way to meet his destiny.

After tree hopping a good distance away from Shisui, Itachi found a nice clearing that had a small pond in the middle of it. His first instinct was to go cool off a bit in the pond so he stepped towards it. Just as he's about to walk into the water he noticed a small scroll that was protruding out of a gap in between a few rocks. He pulled it out noticing that it was old and dog-eared from moisture. He unraveled the scroll gently and started to read.

P-NNY SUMM—I-G CONTRACT

The title was still somewhat decipherable but most of the text following it was deformed from all the moisture that the scroll had gone through. He could make out the words 'Explodes when thrown' and 'Water Summon'. He saw that the names of the three contracters remained unharmed but he still couldn't read them since he couldn't recognize the kanji.

Itachi knew how summoning contracts work. All he had to do was sign his named in blood on a blank space in the space provided for signatures, which he did. Luckily enough the hand seals drawn on the scroll were still understandable. He proceeded to spread some the blood from the cut he made on his forearm onto his palm and perform the hand seals slamming his palm onto the ground as he finished. Nothing happened. Itachi then remembered that the words 'Water Summon' and repeated what he just did except this time he slammed his palm onto the surface of the pond. It worked.

At first nothing happened making Itachi that the scroll was a prank but then water slowly rose up and started to shape itself. The water then went from being transparent to a mix of colors consisting of black, orange and white. Two seconds after Itachi removed his hand from the pond water where there was simply air now had a black and white penguin-like creature standing on top of the pond water holding what appeared to be another scroll in its hands. Itachi was surprised at what he had just summoned and before he could say anything, the thing spoke.

"Thank you for signing a contract with the Prinny organization. Here is your personal scroll of the prinnies you can summon," said the 1 foot tall prinny holding out the brand new scroll to the new prinny summoner who took it still wondering about the prinny standing before him.

Before Itachi or the prinny could say anything Shisui came dashing towards Itachi screaming something incoherent. Itachi being the genius that he was thought that it'd be bad for his reputation if he saw the penguin-like and that something explodes when it is thrown. He first threw the old scroll at Shisui hoping it would explode but then a second after realizing it won't explode, kicked the penguin inciting a "gah!" from it at Shisui just as he was about to violate Itachi's personal space. Prinny met older cousin's groin beak first and exploded in a burst of smoke and wind. Unfortunately for Itachi the explosion happened just in front of him and he got caught in it knocking him and Shisui unconscious.

They were later sent to the hospital for medical treatment by the other two people in their team. Shisui would be the first of the two to wake up. He found his cousin sleeping in the bed next to his still clutching the scroll that he got from the prinny with a vice grip that most adults are not capable of. He also found that his aunt Mikoto was in the same room to watch over Itachi. After being threatened for hurting Itachi, he explained what happened in the forest. Mikoto felt relieved after coming to her senses and listening to Shisui and all was right with her world. That changed when Shisui told her what Itachi did before they left the village. From that moment, Itachi knew that it's possible to feel your spine shiver while you're asleep.


	3. A New Start

I don't own Naruto but I do now own your attention

I don't own Naruto but I do now own your attention.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

CHAPTER 2: A NEW START

Nearly two years have passed since the time Naruto was hunted down by the entire ninja academy teaching staff in order to pay him back for the time they spent the hospital. It was on that day Naruto decided not to use laxatives as a part of a prank. Especially if his traps weren't ready yet. It wouldn't do if other victims suddenly had the idea to turn his pranks back on him like the academy instructors did. He could still remember all the times he had to go to the bathroom for the week he had to stay the hospital.

For the past two years or so, Naruto has come to know more about Mitarashi Anko. Older and somewhat wiser, the 9 year old boy now understands that Anko is mentally unstable. No matter how often he asks, no one has ever told him that Anko's hobbies are normal. Even by ninja standards.

These hobbies included stalking people for fun, breaking into other peoples' houses and hunting… people. Whenever Naruto and Anko's free time coincided, which fortunately for Naruto weren't as often as it could have been, she would drag him around the village to participate in these dubious activities.

These activities of hers usually ended badly for Naruto. If they were following people in secret, he'd be the one who'd get caught by the unwilling targets resulting in his own time being wasted in jail. Whenever they broke into a house, he'd be left behind after the alarmed trip landing him in jail once again. And during those hunting sprees, he was usually the victim.

Sometimes these hunts happen even during his classes. The instructors of course did nothing to stop her since he was a hated entity among them and that she might kill them if they tried anything. Most of the time he'd end up in the hospital but he's getting better at avoiding the things the she throws at him.

This brings us to the only ANBU to ever send Naruto to the hospital on a regular basis. It wasn't that the ANBU was a sadistic maniac who enjoyed beating up people. No, Anko already filled that role well enough. It's just that, things seem to happen whenever he's around.

Naruto still can't determine whether or not the ANBU was doing it purpose or it was simply bad luck. Other people who interacted with the ANBU also seem to have suffered the same fate that Naruto does around him but that doesn't prove that the ANBU wasn't behind it all. Thanks to all that and the lack of a name for him to be called by, Naruto has decided to dub this jinx of a ninja 'Daikyou-niichan'.

Between the two of them, Naruto has had to miss weeks worth of training at the academy. He has been going to the hospital and jail cell so frequently that the young man widely known as Dr. Zetsumei has become his regular doctor at the hospital and the Konoha jailhouse simply adds new offences to his own list of crimes instead of dealing with the paperwork that they normally have to work through every time someone gets sent to jail.

The Hokage himself once asked Naruto if he preferred the hospital or the jail as a joke. The fact that they were usually going through some of the more important aspects at the academy while he was away wasn't helping his future ninja career.

Despite his falling behind in his ninja training, Naruto was still somewhat thankful about having these two troublesome people in his life. Even though they were usually too busy to help him catch up with his peers, they still gave Naruto some helpful insights and on occasion, brand new ninja gear. Plus, all the misfortune he's been put through because of them made his body stronger and more durable.

This at least let him keep up with the older kids in his class in terms of taijutsu. Anko's chases also gave him a lot of pratice with his kawarimi no jutsu. He was actually so good with it he even managed to switch himself with unsuspecting genin and chuunin several times.

Unfortunately for Naruto he still lacked a lot in terms of genjutsu and ninjutsu compared to his peers. His charka control is known to be the worst in the academy. It was so bad that he had trouble keeping up his flawed henge no jutsu for more than a few seconds. He still couldn't perform the bunshin no jutsu let alone the jutsus in the scroll that he found about two years ago. His aim wasn't perfect but because of the practice he got trying to retaliate against Anko, he was better than most of his classmates.

Currently, Naruto's thoughts dwelled upon matters related to all this. He was feeling particularly anxious today. He could blame it on the fact that the day that would be his shot at being a ninja had finally arrived. The genin exam was finally here. He wasn't exactly sure whether or not he could actually pass.

He'd probably pass in the taijutsu and projectile portion of the exam, but he was sure that he wouldn't make it past the ninjutsu and genjutsu portion. That left the written portion, but he sincerely doubted that'd get him through.

'But maybe if I'm lucky, I might do well enough to make it as a genin,' thought Naruto as he walked towards the ninja academy deep in thought. He was wearing a white shirt and a pair of black shorts that had yet to go through one of Anko's hunts.

He would have stayed like that until he reached the academy if it weren't for the ANBU that suddenly emerged from tree foliage to his right upside down which made Naruto reflexively dash to a tree on his left in order to avoid the kunai that would have normally come whenever Anko popped out of nowhere to attack.

"Calm down Naruto, Anko-sempai didn't order me to attack you today," said the upside down ANBU in the tree. Naruto cautiously looked for any indication of this being a trap set by Anko and stepped out into the open when concluded that it was safe to come out.

"Ohayou Daikyou-niichan. Stay in that tree! I don't want to go to the hospital again today," said Naruto quickly.

"Why must you always presume that my presence alone will bring you bodily harm?" asked the ANBU.

"People always get hurt while you're around. I met at least 30 other people at the hospital who said the same thing," pointed out Naruto with in an irritated tone recalling a few of the accidents he suffered over the past two years.

"None of you have any actual physical evidence to back that statement up…" said the ANBU as he jumped onto the ground.

Naruto took three steps back not wanting to miss his genin exam due to a "Daikyou Jiken". The ANBU was little annoyed at him but that feeling quickly passed.

"Look, I only came to give you some tips for the exam."

"Oh, okay…" Naruto was still watching out for signs of a possible threat.

"Anyway… If you want to pass the exam you should play your strengths. In your case it would be your speed and senses." Naruto nodded paying close attention to what was being said. "If you can, try to apply them in everything. You might even be able to use them to cheat during the written portion if you're careful enough."

"Eeehh! How am I supposed to do that?"

"If you're good enough, you'll figure it out. Remember, deception and cunning are two of any ninja's best weapons. They'll be evaluating you on your potential as a ninja throughout the entire exam so think like a ninja."

Expecting to hear more, Naruto waited. It was going to be another 10 seconds till he did.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Get going, you're going to be late," said the ANBU.

Wanting to smack the ANBU for the stupidity of his actions but knowing better, Naruto started running off to the ninja academy cursing the ANBU's infuriating existence leaving him to stare at a bunch of trees.

Before he was out of earshot though, the ANBU said, "Oh! Nearly forgot. GOOD LUCK!"

Naruto smiled and waved to him as he ran along the dirt beaten path.

--

Anko definitely thought in a way that most people considered to be dangerous. That was why Anko was waiting for Naruto on top of the ninja academy's roof with several kunai in hand.

Anko could see a cloud of dust quickly approaching the academy and causing problems to those who were unfortunate enough to get caught in it. She grinned.

Just as the cloud of dust was approaching the academy gates, Anko threw a kunai at the rope that was camouflaged along the gates. The cloud of dust abruptly stopped moving and managed to avoid getting caught in the net that suddenly sprang up out of the ground.

The source of the cloud of dust leaped out of the cloud itself as two kunai flew into the cloud. Kicking off the academy fence, Uzumaki Naruto bounded onto the net suspended in the air containing two unfortunate and terrified academy students that got caught in the trap giving it enough momentum to swing towards the academy.

Upon reaching the apex of the swing, Naruto cut the rope suspending the net in the air with the kunai he snatched in the air when he jumped out of the dust cloud letting the momentum of the swing carrying the bodies that Naruto was standing on, further into the air.

Naruto jumped of the bodies just as they were about to crash into the wall and bounded of the academy entrance's archway allowing him to propel himself higher into the air.

Looking up he saw what was looked to be Anko's underwear making him blush and lose concentration. It was at that moment, Anko decided to kick off Naruto sending him rolling in the air through the same window that they jumped out of nearly two years ago.

Naruto saw while rolling in mid-air that Anko was pointing and grinning at him, "You'd better pass, brat!" zhe immediately took that as a threat. After all, peoples' eyes don't hold signs of malicious intent when they try to cheer someone on.

'You better thank me for that brat! They'd have to count that in!' thought Anko as she let gravity do its job.

--

"Uzumaki! If you cut it any closer we'd have to start without you! Now, get in your seat!" shouted the academy instructor from his desk.

'Whew! Safe!' thought Naruto as he made his way to his seat.

The genin exam was about to start.

--

First off was the written portion. After making sure everyone had their papers in front of them, the invigilators announced that they were given one hour to finish their papers. Anyone caught cheating would immediately be disqualified. As soon as the clock on the wall struck nine, the exam started.

Looking over the questions, a sense of dread quickly filled Naruto. There was no way he'd be able to pass even if he got the questions he could actually read right. Struggling to remember everything he learnt from the entire three years he went to the academy, Naruto answered the four questions he knew he would be right about. Unfortunately, four out of twenty was still too low to pass. Especially if he wanted to get through the entire exam with his current abilities.

This left Naruto with two options. Either he could fail or he could cheat. It was do or die. If he got caught he'd definitely fail the entire exam. There wasn't even a guarantee he'd be able to get the right answers.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

The two kids flanking him weren't exactly individuals who were considered to be smart. The seats behind him were too high for Naruto to see the papers on the bench.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

That left the front but the kids in the front. He might have been able to cheat off the kid sitting in front of him if he wasn't blocking the paper with his big head. It seemed like he was stuck on a question since the pencil in his right hand wasn't moving. His left hand was also the source of all the tapping.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Maybe he could copy off the ones besides the one in front. Their scrawls were too small to read though. Maybe he could if...

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

'Dammit! Stop tapping!' thought Naruto irritably as he glared at the kid in front of him.

Normally, Naruto wouldn't be bothered by something like that. He's had to face much more annoying things after all, like the ANBU who's always giving him a reason to visit the hospital, but the test was making him tense. It wasn't just that, the tapping itself was illogically loud.

It was then that Naruto noticed that there seemed to be others in the room who shared Naruto's opinion. He could feel killing intent radiating from several other students towards the source of the annoying sound. He could even feel it coming from one of the chuunin standing in front.

It gave him an idea.

Thump!

"Stop making that annoying sound!" shouted Naruto wearing a scowl at the kid who was tapping away until Naruto threw the kunai that stuck itself into the bench in front of him barely missing the boy's right hand.

Staring wide-eyed at the person who nearly maimed his right hand, the bespectacled young boy quickly shifted his gaze back towards his paper while stammering a "sorry" at the younger boy who had just relieved him of the need to go to the toilet. Good thing the glasses wearing boy was wearing yellow pants.

"Uzumaki! If you do that again I'll disqualify you from the exam!" shouted one of the chuunin in front. Although, inwardly he was glad that the tapping stopped. So were a few others in that room.

"Sorry!" exclaimed Naruto loudly to the chuunin looking back at his own paper.

Honestly though, Naruto wasn't experiencing any sort of emotion that could be confused with regret. No, it was quite the opposite actually. He wasn't feeling any hint of sympathy towards terrified boy in front who was too scared to remove the imposing looking kunai poking out his table.

'Good! No one's doing anything about the kunai. He's even got big handwriting,' thought Naruto as he started copying the answers he could see off the kunai's shiny black surface onto his own paper. He's learnt how to make use of reflections during one of Anko's hunts. It was a good thing that Anko always uses top of the line kunai. 'I guess even Anko can be helpful sometimes…'

Looking over the now finished test paper, Naruto vaguely recalled some of the answers from his lessons. He was sure that he'd pass the test as he handed his paper to the instructor who was collecting them.

Onto the next test.

--

Satisfied at his work, Naruto was sure that he was going to snag the top spot at the weaponry portion. He was the only one who could hit all the targets, although only four of them hit dead centre and two of the shuriken he threw were at the very edge of the target zone.

This portion would be counted into the taijutsu score as flinging weapons at targets can be said to be physical techniques. He'd have to fight with someone for the next part but he knew that there would be a problem concerning him. There were an odd number of boys and an even number of girls taking the test this year. Everyone would be paired off with someone that was roughly equal in terms of estimated fighting ability but… the academy instructors held a deep grudge towards him.

"Uzumaki! Everyone else has been paired up so you'll be facing me!" shouted one of the chuunin instructors as he beckoned Naruto to come over using a one fingered gesture. Naruto expected as much and started walking towards the instructor until he heard a shout coming from one of the students behind him.

"Sensei, that's not fair! I'm the one who should be fighting you! I'm the one with the best scores in class!" complained one of the cockier but more powerful boys in Naruto's class who was pointing at him but glaring at the academy instructor. "Plus, he's only nine years old! Is someone his age actually allowed to take the exam!"

Naruto was about to retort that he was going to be ten in a month and that he wasn't the one who nearly maimed someone with a kunai earlier during the weapons test but the academy beat him to the punch.

"Age has nothing to do with being a ninja, Kazuki! In fact, a few years ago a kid who was younger than Uzumaki is now passed the exam years ago and made jounin the first time he took that test!" shouted back the academy instructors. "Besides, Uzumaki here is designated as a special exception to the usual sparring part of the exam."

"Huh? Special exception?" thought or murmured most of the academy students who heard that while Kazuki himself was muttering at how a younger kid could possibly be better than him.

Naruto's thoughts were a slightly different though. He noticed that when the instructor said 'special exception' it didn't carry the usual amount of hidden resentment that his name did. This would mean that there was another reason for him to spar with an actual ninja aside from discrimination. Naruto continued to follow the man to their designated sparring zone.

Once the murmurings settled down, the test began.

--

"Uzumaki! To make this fair for you, I'll let you use jutsus and weapons while I stick to only taijutsu. Does that sound okay to you?" asked the chuunin instructor.

Naruto nodded as he eyed the instructor for any sign of movement.

"Good… Now come at me with all you've got!" shouted the instructor as he dashed towards Naruto.

Naruto managed to roll to the side dodging the kick that the chuunin aimed at him. Clearly the instructor didn't expect him to actually dodge the kick as he left an opening for Naruto to take advantage of. Naruto kicked the chuunin's foot that was keeping him balanced as he stood on one foot. The chuunin was about to fall down but recovered by pivoting off his right hand as he came down and swung his left leg towards Naruto's right shoulder.

Blocking the kick with a kunai, Naruto quickly put some distance between himself and his opponent. The chuunin quickly got into a crouching position and readied himself for what Naruto thought was going to be a pounce. Naruto in return prepared for an aerial attack by having a loose grip on the kunai in his right hand ready to be thrown and his left hand opened palm ready to deflect the attack.

That was actually a bad idea as the chuunin had launched himself into a very fast slide slamming his left foot into Naruto's left palm. Naruto's feeble attempt at defending himself failed as he felt pain invade his now sprained left wrist letting his guard down even further allowing the instructor to bend his left leg inwards and twist his body so he could get close enough to kick Naruto's side with his other foot sending him flying into a training dummy at the side.

The kick was strong enough to break the upper part of the already badly damaged wooden structure apart from its base letting Naruto continue his flight path only to collide with another training dummy. Propping himself onto the training dummy clutching his injured side, he heard the academy instructor say something.

"What's the matter Uzumaki? If you can't stand even a little pain then you should stop trying to be a ninja," taunted the man as he got up. "You can give up now and save me the trouble of having to write your evaluation."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man. He never did like him but right now he was just pissing him off. Naruto shouted back, "Shut up! I'll make you eat those words!"

Naruto quickly took out the wire in his back pocket and tied it into the loop ring of kunai that he managed to keep from flying out of his hand when he was sent flying himself. The chuunin instructor once again dashed towards Naruto passing by the broken remains of a training dummy on the ground.

Naruto hastily tightened the knot around his kunai and held it in his right hand and the other end of the wire in his other one. He jumped onto the training dummy besides him and leaped off it high into the air just as the instructor's kick hit the air that now occupies his previous position on the dummy.

Recalling the kunai that Naruto held in his hand the instructor quickly looked back turning his head to the side still in post-skill paralysis trying to see where Naruto was hoping that he'd be able to dodge the kunai in time. But he didn't need to. Instead of throwing the kunai at the instructor, the still airborne Naruto threw it at the broken dummy on the ground with enough strength to jam it into wooden dummy.

Getting back into a position ready to dodge any incoming attacks, the chuunin tried to understand Naruto's action. He saw that Naruto was biting down the wire that was attached to the kunai in the dummy and that he was performing hand seals.

The next thing he saw was that Naruto with the wire still in his mouth and the dummy suddenly switched positions as two small clouds of smoke surrounded the two. The chuunin then suddenly got the idea that Naruto was probably planning to use the dummy as a makeshift hammer on the chuunin but calmed down as he noticed that the trajectory and the inertia that the dummy had gained from Naruto wouldn't allow Naruto to aim the hammer at him. He was sure that this move was futile.

At least until Naruto glared at him and continued to perform hand seals.

The chuunin suddenly found himself where Naruto had just been and was sent into shock at the fact that Naruto had just used Kawarimi no jutsu to switch both of their positions which he shouldn't be able to do. Because of this momentary lapse in judgment, Naruto would be able to pull off his plan without hitch.

Naruto grabbed onto the wire with both his hands and yanked the wire as hard as he could pulling the dummy on the other end downwards and towards the still immobilized chuunin.

"EAT THIS!"

The damaged but still made of hard wood dummy plummeted out the sky and slammed into the chuunin's chest, knocking him out and making a slight imprint of his body as he slammed into the ground due to the sheer force of the impact.

"Heh, gotcha!" said Naruto as he walked over the chuunin to make sure he was out. "I WON! I BEAT A REAL NINJA!"

Naruto started celebrating thinking that he had just definitely earned a one way ticket to becoming a ninja.

--

The other students who had been waiting on one side of the field for their own test to start had been watching the battle and were amazed at what the blonde nine year old boy had just done. The students who were struggling to outdo each other on the field weren't even genin and yet, Naruto had just beaten a chuunin.

They academy teachers who had been evaluating their students fighting ability had also been paying some attention to the Naruto's fight. They were baffled as to how an academy student like Naruto could even think of way to beat a chuunin in fight. Even if the fight was handicapped, it'd still be very difficult for even a well-trained genin to beat an experienced chuunin alone.

This was going to be included in the report.

It was nearing the end of the day and it was now time for the students to undergo the jutsu portion of the exam.

Everyone stood on the edge of their seats as each one got called in to perform a random academy taught jutsu. One by one, the students went in. Some came out smiling proudly with a headband in their hands while a few came out empty handed either down-hearted or angry.

Soon enough Naruto went in. The others talked amongst themselves certain that Naruto would be the youngest to pass this year. The person they were absolutely sure would pass was Naruto. Despite not knowing the young boy very well, many of them, mostly girls, had agreed to yell out congratulations as soon as they saw the blonde boy hold out Konoha's proof of being a ninja to them.

That's why they were absolutely confounded when they saw him come out and dashed through the open doorway at the side of the room. As far as the hyuuga in the room could tell, he didn't see anything that even remotely looked like a headband.

--

Up in the Hokage's tower, one very old man sighed at what he had just seen in his crystal ball. Right now the third Hokage, Sarutobi Sasuke was feeling guilty at what he had done to Naruto. He pulled open the second drawer on his left and took out a small brown box from it and stood up. He was about to open the door that would lead him out of his office but paused.

"I take it you're here to find out why I did that?" asked the Hokage as he could be seen wearing a solemn expression still facing the door.

"Yes," said the person sitting on the now open window.

"Would you really accept my intentions for now and leave it at that?"

"If they're good enough."

"Well then let us hope they are."

"What are they, then?"

Turning around, the Hokage smiled sadly and answered softly, "I didn't want him to turn out like you did."

This person looked down for a bit smiling bitterly before saying, "Yeah… Even I wouldn't have wanted to be like this back then."

"If I had let him be ninja now, he'd have no one to come back to. You, still have your family. Treasure them."

As soon as those words left his mouth, the third Hokage no longer saw his successor to be at his window.

--

Konoha's memorial area. Unlike the memorial stone located near the training grounds, the graveyard contained bodies of people who have died in the village and there were individual headstones for each of them.

Right now, Naruto was sitting on a wooden bench staring at his only known relative's gravestone. The person buried underneath it died years ago when he was still too young to actually remember her now.

He could still remember bits of what he thought were her image. Long spiky red hair, blue eyes and a wide grin. Those were the bits he could remember.

Naruto looked again at the name on the grave stone and read the name written on it.

Uzumaki Kushina

His mother. Someone who he once knew a long time ago but now barely remembers. Thinking as such he choked out another sob.

He's been doing that since he ran from the academy.

Wiping away the tears from his eyes, he didn't notice the Hokage walking towards him. Naruto only realized he was there when the old man sat down next to him.

"Do you miss her?" asked the Hokage.

Naruto sniffled and nodded.

"But I don't that's all, is it?" said the Hokage. "Did something happen?"

Naruto sniffled a bit more before replying. At first the Hokage could only hear it as a undecipherable mutter but eventually he said loud enough for him to hear.

"I failed the genin exam."

The Hokage just smiled sadly at those words. He already knew this but that didn't lessen the guilt he felt when he heard those words.

"They… They said I wasn't ready to be ninja yet. But… I don't understand why."

The Hokage nodded his head looking at the ground while Naruto continued to wipe away more tears. "Uhm."

"I was the best at throwing weapons."

Another nod. "Uhm."

"I passed the written paper."

Once again, he nodded. "Uhm."

"I couldn't do henge or bunshin but I still used kawarimi on sensei"

Nodding again. "Uhm."

"I even beat sensei."

The sobbing was starting up again. The Hokage looked up still smiling. "That's very impressive Naruto."

"THEN WHY! WHY DIDN'T THEY LET ME GO!" sobbed Naruto as he cried into the Hokage's chest. The Hokage slowly picked him up and put him onto his lap giving him a hug to comfort him. It was a while till Naruto started talking again.

"Even if they hated me… They can't just stop me because of that, right?" aske the crying boy.

"No, they can't," answered the Hokage.

"Then, why?" asked Naruto as he broke into more sobs. The Hokage started patting him on the back.

--

It would be a while before Naruto calmed down enough to stop crying. In fact the sun had ser by then and the lampposts in the area have already lit up. The Hokage stayed silent all the while. When they started talking again, it was mostly small talk.

"So that's why you shouldn't peek on women?" asked Naruto with eyes wide open.

"Yes, Naruto. Women can be very scary sometimes. It's too bad one of my old students couldn't figure that out as fast as you did. It would have saved him a lot trouble," said the Hokage. What he really thought was 'Thank god he didn't. If he did I wouldn't be able to read those wonderful books of his.'

Naruto suddenly went silent for a brief period. The Hokage was worried that he might still be dwelling on what happened that day. He started worrying that he might have broken Naruto's spirit.

"Hey, Jiji…" said Naruto slowly pulling the Hokage out of his thoughts. "Do you know who was my dad?"

The Hokage knew that he'd eventually ask him that but wasn't planning on telling him just yet.

"I know my mom took care of me when I was little and she died to protect me from cloud ninjas but you never told me who my dad was?"

The Hokage suddenly felt even guiltier after hearing those words. What he said was mostly right but it hadn't been ninjas from cloud who attacked him. In fact there were still quite a few people in the village who wanted revenge but haven't done anything to warrant action. The Hokage now felt that he had to throw Naruto a bone to make it up to him for his actions.

"Honestly Naruto, information on your father is kept classified for safety reasons and you won't even be able to visit his grave until you're old enough but I'll tell you something anyway."

"Ehh. When will I be able to visit him?"

"Maybe when you're fifteen maybe."

"Well I guess I can wait till then. Now hurry up and tell me about my dad!"

The Hokage chuckled.

"Your father was a powerful shinobi named Minato. He was one of the strongest ninjas in our village. He could easily have beaten me. He was there ten, wait no, nine years ago protecting us from the nine tailed fox."

Naruto was looking at he Hokage wanting to know more.

"He had sunny blond spiky hair that was always in a mess, blue eyes bluer than the sky and he was always cheerful. In fact he was a lot like you except he didn't have whiskers on his face or play pranks on people," said the Hokage. "He could make almost any occasion a happy one. He was always polite and minded his manners. I was actually surprised when I heard that your parents were in love," chuckled the old man.

"Why?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Well, while your father was as they said in those days, a perfect gentlemen, your mother was practically his opposite in every way I could think of. Well except maybe for their eyes but even then it was more like one was a peaceful sky while the other was like the sea on a stormy day. He was polite, she was rude. He was quiet, she was loud. While he had lightning and fire, she had wind and water affinities. The list goes on and on."

"Oh," said Naruto now wondering how his parents got married if they were polar opposites and what were affinities. Before asking the Hokage anything, he said something first.

"However despite their differences I knew that they loved each other deeply and that they both died to protect you. Always remember that you're what's left of them and that they treasured you just as much as each other," said the Hokage as he put his hand on Naruto's head.

"Uhm," said Naruto as he looked down.

They once again fell into silence but it wasn't as awkward as it had been the past few times.

"Naruto… I was thinking that you should still keep trying to be a shinobi."

Naruto looked at the Hokage.

"This year you may have failed but as you know students who have failed the exam can still return to the academy to study for their next attempt. Graduate students like you get to try for exam at the end of the term. You can even choose which of the three levels to study in next term," the Hokage paused. "As long as you keep trying I'm confident that you'll surpass both me and your father."

"Even Anko-neechan and Daikyou-nichan?"

"Even them.," said the Hokage even though he wasn't exactly sure who he meant by 'Daikyou-niichan'.

"Yay! I'll definitely get back at them some day!" cheered the blonde as he got off the Hokage's lap and started jumping around. Sarutobi smiled at this until he heard the next thing Naruto said. "I'll even go on to learn every jutsu there is and be stronger than even the fourth Hokage!"

The Hokage wasn't sure what to feel exactly at that point. As soon as he had said that two flashes came to his mind. One was of a student of his who was very much like Naruto is at his age and the other was the person who had beaten his student at that same goal. He knew what could happen if Naruto had been allowed to pass at such a young age. He knew how lonely he'd feel once the others started seeing him as a powerful weapon. He knew what he had to do.

"Naruto," said the Hokage suddenly, gaining Naruto's attention. "Why don't you join in the first level next term. Most of them will be about your age. You'll be able to make friends. I'm even changing the curriculum for next term."

Naruto looked at the Hokage with an expression that he found familiar. It had once been adorned by a student of his. It only served to strengthen his resolve to give Naruto a chance to be happy.

"Why would I want to do that? All I need to do is get bunshin and henge right. They said they wouldn't let me pass because I couldn't get them right," said Naruto. "Besides the other kids would eventually start acting like their parents and avoid me. Even if I was their age they still won't like me," Naruto paused. He had a sad look in his eyes just before he turned away from the Hokage and said in a unemotional voice, "I don't need friends."

Another flash of Orochimaru's younger self came to the Hokage's mind as Naruto said exactly the same words that Orochimaru did. The Hokage remained calm despite the growing worries over their similarities. He had to make sure it wouldn't happen again. He had to make sure that Naruto wouldn't grow up hating the village and become like Orochimaru.

"Naruto, do you know why I became the Hokage?"

Bewildered by this sudden question, Naruto could only ask, "Why?"

"It's because I love it here. To be more exact, I love the people here. Everyone here respects and treasures each other. It's because of their respect for me that they chose me to be their leader even though there were other shinobi who stronger than me."

"I thought Hokages were chosen because of their strength?" asked Naruto baffled.

Sarutobi smiled. "Yes, Naruto. Hokages are chosen based on their strength."

"But then why did they choose you if there were stronger people around?"

"Naruto, what does strength mean to you? And where does it come from?"

Naruto was quickly becoming more and more confused at the old man's inquiries. "Ninjutsu and strong muscles I guess… Oh, and charka."

"Well I can't say that's wrong exactly, but do you want to hear what I think it really is?"

"Okay…"

"I've always believed that strength comes from the desire to protect those who are close to you. The people in this village trust me to protect them and because of that I want to protect them with everything I have. It is because of them I have trained to be as strong as I can be. Do you have anyone you want to protect Naruto?"

"Not really…" The Hokage felt disheartened at this. "I'm not strong enough to protect anyone. Not you. Not Anko-neechan. Not even Daikyou-niichan. I want to… but I can't."

The Hokage then smiled, "Then, do you want to become stronger so that you can?"

"Really! How?" asked Naruto quickly.

"Well first it's good to have a goal. Do you have one?"

"I already said that I wanted to beat all the Hokages in the past!"

"Well then would you become Hokage to beat us? I mean you can't fight the other three so you have to find some other way to beat them."

"Yeah, I know. I'll become Hokage if I have to."

"Well if you want to replace me as Hokage, you need to have everyone's trust and respect. You need to do things that will make them proud of you and you need to have lots of people who will say that they want you to be Hokage. And you might want to do that soon, I am in my golden years after all."

"So that means I need a lot of friends to say that they want me to be Hokage?"

"Yes, Naruto," the Hokage smiled.

After a brief pause, a grinning Naruto said something that would put the old Sarutobi at ease and a happier looking smile on his face, "Well Jiji, looks like you won. I'll go join in the freshmen class next term and I'll make friends there!"

"Will you promise me that?" asked the Hokage as he held out his right pinky finger.

Naruto grinned and clasped his own pinky finger around the old man.

"Yeah Jiji! I promise to take that title from you as soon as I can!" exclaimed Naruto. It wasn't exactly the promise that Sarutobi meant. "I will become Hokage someday! Even if I have to take the exams a thousand times!"

But it was a promise that he knew would lead Naruto down a happier path.

Naruto was now jumping around and shouting in a manner that reminded the old man of a certain red-headed kunoichi.

Sarutobi Sasuke stood up from the bench and gazed at the stone visage of his previous successor and swore that unlike most days, where the fourth Hokage's stone face looked stern and commanding, it now looked like it was smiling proudly against the backdrop of the starry sky.

Well honestly, with nearly 7000 words, this chapter is my longest and most exceptional piece of writing in the years I have written in the number of years that I have lived on this planet. I intended for this to be one chapter instead of two despite how it's really split off into two parts and how much smoother the pacing would be if I did split it into two chapters. There isn't a side story this time because of the chapter's length but there might be one next chapter if I don't feel that the number of words aren't sufficient.

Also I was wondering whether or not to just skip ahead to Naruto finding the forbidden scroll or make the next chapter about Naruto meeting Iruka. I want to get on with the main story as soon as possible while I still have the time to work on this but I only properly introduced two of the main characters so far and the battles I have planned for them to be involved in will be hell for me to write. Tell me what you want the next chapter to be about so I can make up my mind.

11th May 2008 EDIT

Decided to rework the chapters so that the wording is more fluid and some events a bit more realistic. Overall there are no major changes to the story, just minute detail to tie in story events better with everything.

Daikyou Jiken roughly means Unfortunate Incident


	4. A Farewell Gift

I don't own Naruto but I do own a justified hatred for its dub

I don't own Naruto but I do own a justified hatred for its dub.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

CHAPTER 3: A FAREWELL GIFT

Despite what the he had promised the Hokage months ago, Naruto was making slow progress in the process of making friends. Even though he was the same age as them, they knew that he already took the genin exam once and that was becoming a reason for isolation again. He was wearing the goggles that he got the Hokage that night though.

The other students who failed the previous exam decided not to continue at the ninja academy. When Naruto bumped into one of his former classmates days ago, he asked him why. The older boy simply said that he didn't have what it takes to be a ninja with a bitter smile on his face but he did say that Naruto did. That acknowledgement of his strength from the older boy who he barely spoke to in the last three years of academy life had strengthened Naruto's resolve and confidence.

Unfortunately despite the boost in morale, he was still having trouble with his goals. He hadn't improved much since the exam and both Anko and Daikyou-niichan have been going on more and more missions. When he asked them about it, they both said something was happening outside the village that he didn't need to know about. They both assured him that the village itself wouldn't be affected but it was still causing trouble.

The last time Naruto had gone to see Dr. Zetsumei was last month and that was because he was having lunch with Daikyou-niichan when the restaurant they were in suddenly blew up. Unlike his friend, he and several other villagers did not escape unscathed. Luckily enough no one died but with all the agony they were in, some of them might have wanted to. Since then, Daikyou-niichan was having trouble eating at some of his haunts. It was roughly the same kind of trouble that Naruto's dealt with for almost his entire life but at least with him, it was just the more expensive places that shunned him away. With the jinx of an ANBU though, any restaurant or supermarket with a stove or gas pipe nearby would shoo him away. Sometimes even with spiritual wards that they got from a traveling merchant that was passing through the village.

Aside from that, Naruto's academics weren't what they could have been. He's been flunking out of tests because he found them to be a waste of time since he didn't really need to pass them to take the genin exam. Also, even though they were teaching about charka in the first level now, Naruto wasn't getting much out of it since they were things he mostly knew already. He'd even skip classes on some days.

One time, a classmate who was from the clan that Daikyou-niichan warned him against stealing food from and insulting them, asked Naruto why he was failing the class even though he said he already went through it. Before he could answer that question though, the sleepy looking kid under next to him asked the young Chouji Akamichi, whether he'd bother to do the same things over again when it's not necessary. It captured the reason as to why Naruto's performance was dismal at best. Naruto then in turn asked Nara Shikamaru the same question about him. His answer was that he was simply lazy. They weren't exactly friends but they got along with each other.

A test had just come a few days ago and the results were out. At the top of the class was Uchiha Sasuke, who Naruto recalls having a very funny conversation in which Naruto asked him why he was buried in the ground a few years ago. He still recalls the bouts of denials and blushing that the dark haired boy had gone through that day. Since then Sasuke has made Naruto out to be a nuisance as he didn't just make his class introduction an embarrassing one, he was also the trigger for what appears to be a still growing Uchiha Sasuke fan club. All that blushing on his first day did wonders for his popularity with the girls and his academic performance was without a doubt was just going to improve that.

Naruto found himself on the bottom of the list with the lowest scores. 'Stupid tests! I still have to deal with them for the rest of the year too!' The test results were putting him in a bad mood and he wasn't all that willing to sit down quietly today. He was going to skip the day entirely if anything else bugs him.

"Hey dobe! I bet that it was your scores that made Nozomu sensei pull a disappearing act on us! I mean what else besides that could have sent him over the edge?" taunted Sasuke looking smug as he walked up to the blonde ten year old.

That, was the push that Naruto needed to enjoy a nice day outside the class. He'll be skipping out today. He'll just meet the new instructor tomorrow. But before he leaves, a little revenge was in order.

Naruto spotted the little gathering of girls still gushing over Sasuke's brilliance in the corner and sported an evil grin that he picked up from Anko. He hasn't pulled a good prank in a while. Sasuke saw it and suddenly felt a chill.

'Now, what did aniki say about that feeling?' thought Sasuke.

Naruto hastily jumped out of his seat and onto Sasuke's head drawing stares towards. Before Sasuke could shout at Naruto for what he was doing, the blonde leaped off the patch of dark hair and into the fray of young girls who were now screaming.

CRASH

The girls slowly got up and were quick to throw punches at the young boy on the floor. It never occurred to them that before even a single blow landed on Naruto, he switched himself out with a certain dark haired boy with kawarimi no jutsu. So closing their eyes, screaming in rage, they proceeded to beat up the boy on the floor who unknown to them was actually the object of their affections.

Naruto was quick enough to jump out of the window so that the girls wouldn't be able to touch him once they realized their error after their newly assigned academy instructor walked in to find the brawl an instant after Naruto had made his escape.

--

Ten minutes have passed since Naruto tricked the girls into beating up Sasuke and right now he was on his way to see Dr. Zetsumei. It wasn't because he needed medical treatment though. After all, even he was curious as to where Nozomu-sensei had gone off to.

When Naruto first met Dr. Zetsumei, he was too preoccupied to realize something anyone of his former classmates would have. The doctor looked almost identical to their teacher whom they had become accustomed to seeing in class for the duration of one year at the time. That 'almost' being that one wears a white lab coat while the other usually wears some form of a traditional garb. When Naruto inquired as to the reason why, Dr. Zetsumei told him that they were brothers. With their appearance and odd quirks, there would be no need to confirm that statement.

Recalling all the strange things that Nozomu sensei had done in the past three years of his life, Naruto wondered whether being strange ran in the Itoshiki family. Despite knowing him for that long, Naruto never really developed any form of a bond with his teacher. He was always making some with the girls though.

'I don't think I'll ever understand girls!' thought Naruto exasperatedly wondering about both Sasuke's and the academy instructor's popularity.

Itoshiki Nozomu was always ranting about how depressing the world was and was frequently doing things that disrupted the class whether it intentional or it wasn't, another reason as to why Naruto couldn't do henge properly. He also came to class in strange clothing a few times, among them were a corpse's robe, a cultist robe and a bear costume. In fact, Naruto never ever saw him in the standard Konoha uniform. And after Naruto wrote the strange man's name the way that Daikyou-niichan had told him to and blurted it out loud for the class to hear, he started hanging himself in public. All attempts were made unsuccessful though. Despite the effect that incident had on him, Naruto really had to agree with Daikyou-niichan when he said that the word 'despair' fit him perfectly.

Being so caught up in his reminiscence of his teacher, Naruto didn't realize that he had walked to Dr. Zetsumei's office on instinct alone. Knowing that he comes to the hospital way too much, Naruto knocked on the door.

"Come in!" came the answer.

Naruto opened the door and went in.

"Ah, Naruto! Haven't seen you in while. I was starting to think that one of those two had finally got you," said the doctor casually as he got out of his seat proceed to rummage through his desk drawer. "So who was it this time?"

"Neither of them," was Naruto's reply. Dr. Zetsumei looked confused. "I actually came here to ask you about Nozomu-sensei."

"What about him?" asked the doctor who stopped going through his drawer and was now sitting back in his seat comfortably.

"Well he pulled another disappearing act on us but he's been gone since the test results came out. It's been three days since anyone saw him... You don't think that he finally managed hang himself, do you?"

The doctor pondered silently for a brief moment.

"I doubt it. Nothing ever goes his way so he's still be alive somewhere," said the doctor who was irrationally confident that his brother didn't kill himself yet. "He's probably at our sister's place in a village south of here. He always did run off to Rin whenever he had a scare when we were younger."

"Rin…" thought Naruto out loud as he tried to figure out what would come out once he processed the name.

"Come to think of it I haven't been to see her in long time. Might as well take a vacation," said the doctor as his face lit up with glee. Dr. Zetsumei's name was the cause of his lack of patients. Naruto was practically the only person who ever sees him.

"Rin… Zetsurin?" said Naruto. The other person in the room's body twitched at this. "So she's really good at everything?"

"I wish people wouldn't judge us by our names…" whimpered the doctor. "But yes, Rin's really good at lots of things. She's actually a Grand Master in the art of flower arrangement."

"That's cool I guess. Will she ever come here to visit you guys? I'd love to meet her," said Naruto as he watched the man clad in the white coat stuff things from his drawer into a black bag.

"I guess I could bring her here when I'm done but whatever you do, don't call her Zetsurin. She will kill you for it."

Naruto who was unaware of the other meaning of the word simply said, "Okay."

But then just as he had said that, this member of the Itoshiki clan realized something.

"Hey wait! Shouldn't you be at the academy!" asked the doctor.

He never got a verbal reply as Naruto pulled his own disappearing act on the doctor.

--

After running a good distance away from the hospital, Naruto had found himself catching his breath on a bridge located above one part of a stream of water. Once he was done repaying his oxygen debt, Naruto decided it might be a good idea to train for a while since he was near one of the training grounds anyway. Didn't want to get rusty without Anko around to chase him after all.

He walked towards one of the training dummies in the area and was about to kick it when he heard the rustling of leaves coming from a bush to his left.

Naruto cautiously stepped towards the bush in question thinking that it might be one of Konoha's rare flying bunnies judging from the loudness of the sound. One step away from plunging into the bush, Naruto readied himself to catch his target.

That was when the creature in the bush decided to show itself. Naruto fell down backwards letting out a yell as he saw that instead of a furry rabbit, the creature was one ANBU who he'd been acquainted with for years now.

"Oh, it's just you," said Naruto disappointed that it wasn't a flying bunny.

"Sorry to disappoint you," said the ANBU gruffly.

"What were you doing behind that bush?" asked Naruto as he dusted himself off.

"Nothing much, just writing a suicide letter," said the ANBU nonchalantly as he pointed to a piece of paper in his right hand with the pencil in the other. "See?"

"What!" yelled Naruto obviously surprised and now panicking. "WHAT! DON'T KILL YOUSELF! WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO! WAS IT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING I DID!"

"Relax, it's not for me. It's for a friend of mine."

Naruto was staring to calm down but now worrying about something else, "Is it for Nozomu-sensei? Is that why we can't find him?"

"Huh? Nozomu's gone missing again? Oh, well he'll turn up eventually… Oh, and this isn't for him, it's for someone else."

Naruto was still feeling uneasy about the ANBU's casualness with the implications of his words and actions when all of a sudden The ANBU let out a grunt of pain clutched his head and kneeled down onto the floor.

"Daikyou-niichan! What's wrong?" asked Naruto as he moved towards the ANBU.

Before Naruto could touch him though, the ANBU held out his hand, palm flat as an indication for Naruto not to come closer. "Relax, it's just a headache."

Naruto watched worriedly as the ANBU stood up slowly and looked back at him.

"Huh?" said the ANBU. "That's weird… Naruto, your charka it looks… different…"

"What?" asked Naruto, confused.

The ANBU proceeded to look around through the eyeholes of his mask and stopped to look at his hand. Although Naruto couldn't understand why or how, but he knew that the ANBU was releasing charka through his fingers. He was probably right as fire suddenly lit up from the ANBU's gloved hand before it looked to have been smothered by something invisible just as quickly.

"I see…" said the ANBU. Naruto didn't as he was becoming more and more confused.

"Daikyou-niichan what did you just do to your hand?" asked Naruto worriedly.

The ANBU looked back at Naruto once more only this time it felt as if something was wrong with the ANBU's gaze.

"Sorry about that Naruto," said the ANBU as lowered his hand down to his side. The strange feeling wrongness disappeared. "I was just testing out my chakra's affinities to see if my doujutsu was affecting it."

"Doujutsu?" asked Naruto, not quite remembering what that meant.

"It means a technique that I did with my eyes. Most of my clan's members can do it but I just had mine reach a new level."

"Huh? What?" Naruto was confused.

"Never mind," said the ANBU. "By the way Naruto, what are you doing here, I'm pretty sure my brother went to the academy today."

"Skipped out. Decided to train instead," said Naruto.

"Oh. Okay," the person standing in front of him is not considered to be a responsible adult. "So… Do you want me to help you with your training for a bit?"

"Yeah, sure!"

"So what were you planning to do?" asked the ANBU.

"Just the usual. Punching the dummy and work on henge and bunshin," answered Naruto as he punched the training dummy.

"Well rather than the jutsus and physical training, I think you're better off training your charka control."

"How do I do that?"

"Didn't they teach you in the academy?"

"I probably was at hospital when they taught that."

"Okay, then. Why don't go pick a leaf from that tree," said the ANBU as he pointed to a tree not very far from him.

Naruto did as he was told and when he came back, the ANBU had a leaf in his hand.

"Now, Naruto. This is a charka control exercise that my former captain had told me to do. I want you to focus your charka into your own leaf and use it to make cuts in it like so," said the ANBU as he showed the leaf to Naruto. There small cuts forming around the leaf's edges.

"That doesn't look too hard," said Naruto as he pushed his charka into the leaf.

Nothing happened.

"Eh?" Naruto tried again.

Nothing happened.

"Think of a knife and visualize your charka as sharp as the knife is."

"Hmph!" Naruto tried once more, face scrunching up in concentration.

The only thing that happened was a fart.

"Okay what's the point of this anyway? Aren't there any easier exercises I can do?" asked Naruto, annoyed.

"Well there are but your jounin instructor will teach it to you some time after your team officially forms. Plus if you do this one, it'll not improve your charka control you'll also be able to perform wind ninjutsu more easily," answered the ANBU.

"Wind? Can't you teach me some water jutsus. I saw one of the kids in my class do a fire jutsu yesterday," whined Naruto.

"Who said I was teaching you a jutsu? I'm just teaching you how to improve your charka control and affinity. Besides, your affinity is wind and not water."

"What's an affinity? Jiji once said that my parents had opposite ones," asked Naruto curious about affinities.

"Affinities are the elements that your charka is naturally aligned to. That means the type of jutsus you can do more easily usually depends on whether or not your charka is compatible. Most ninjas have one at first but as they become stronger they naturally gain at least one more. I myself have two of them."

"What are they?"

"Well mine is a very rare but powerful combination. Like you I am aligned with the wind but just like many of the ninjas here I am also aligned with fire."

"How is that rare? I mean there are only five elements."

"Well, it's because when people have multiple affinities they usually get the weakest in their combo first and get neutrals ones later. That's why it's rare to have someone who has fire and wind combos or even earth and lightning ones."

"But doesn't that mean no matter what, I won't be able to use my wind affinity to beat any fire jutsus and the only way for me to win is if I get a water affinity?"

"Only if you don't train your wind charka hard enough. You see, among all of them, the wind affinity is the best for mid and close range attacks. No matter how destructive fire is, it's never going to be as useful as wind charka is," said the ANBU. "Watch."

The ANBU held up his leaf for Naruto to see and then, all of a sudden the cuts on the leaf extended and divided the leaf into smaller pieces.

"But it's still not as cool as fire is," Naruto pointed out.

"Still not impressed? Well then how about…" said the ANBU with a tone of amusement as he approached the tree Naruto had plucked the leaf from. The ANBU directed his hand towards somewhere up in the tree.

"This?"

A very strong gust of wind suddenly brushed past Naruto forcing him to close his eyes for an instant. Over the howling of the wind, Naruto could hear what sounded like thousands of twigs being snapped.

When he opened them again he saw that there were now lots of deep gashes in the tree bark and the branches and leaves had been cut up into little divisions that were either scattered in the air or piled together on the ground.

Naruto was about to yell out in awe but the ANBU proceeded to do something else.

He set the area around him on fire with a giant fireball that suddenly formed itself around him.

Naruto was shocked at how the ANBU had set himself ablaze and probably killed himself but the surprises weren't about to stop yet.

At first the ANBU could only be distinguished as a dark silhouette but then the ANBU's image became clearer and clearer until he stepped out of the fire. He appeared to have come out not the least bit affected by the blazing inferno behind him.

He then turned around and faced the fire. At this point, Naruto expected the ANBU to douse of the fire with some kind of water jutsu.

He didn't. Instead, Naruto saw the fire become smaller as if it was being smothered by the same invisible force he used to put out his hand. When the ANBU was done, Naruto couldn't even see any embers that usually accompanied a put out fire.

The ANBU then turned around walked towards Naruto. But there was something wrong. Naruto couldn't hear any footsteps. Even though he could feel the footsteps as the ANBU got closer, he still couldn't hear any foot steps.

Then as soon as the ANBU stopped in front him, Naruto felt the air rush past him and everything suddenly went quiet. He could hear birds chirping and the splashes of water a second ago but now everything was silent.

"Impressed yet?" asked the ANBU in a smug tone. Naruto had both his eyes and mouth wide open.

"How did you do all that! Everything went quiet and-nd… how did you do that to the fire! Was it the jutsu you use to sneak on me?!" asked Naruto excitedly.

"Like I said Naruto, wind is by far, a more useful element than fire can ever be," said the ANBU.

Naruto suddenly noticed that he could hear the birds again but it came to him softly but was slowly getting louder. Naruto looked around to see any indication of what had just happened. When he turned around to ask the ANBU another question, he was no longer there. He was now on the bridge.

"Remember Naruto, the wind isn't the air itself, it's the movement!" shouted the ANBU as he crossed over to the other side.

Naruto had never ever been so awestruck in his life.

--

Three days have passed since then and Naruto had been skipping academy lessons in favor of training hard so that he could do what he hoped he'd be capable of someday.

For the past four days, Naruto had been training in the same training field from morning till night trying to cut leaves with his chakra. In fact he hasn't even met the new teacher yet and skipping four consecutive days of lessons probably wasn't the best first impression you could leave on a teacher.

Despite having tried for the past four days, Naruto wasn't any closer to his goal than he had been at the beginning. He pumped more chakra into the leaf hoping that it'd least tear the leaf.

His attempt didn't work as the leaf suddenly flew out his hand and Naruto himself fell backwards from the force generated from pushing out a lot of chakra from his hands.

Naruto, now lying flat on his back to the ground realized that he once again lost track of time while he was training and it was now dark and the lamppost had turned on.

He slowly stood up and also realized that his entire body except for his hands felt like lead. His hands on the hand felt like they'd been set on fire which wasn't too far from the truth as he'd been pumping enough chakra through his hand to form burns on them.

Exhausted but still frustrated at his lack of results, Naruto plucked a leaf from the bush next to him and held in between his right thumb and forefinger.

He looked at the leaf intently trying to figure out what he was doing wrong.

Meanwhile, a majority of Konoha's ninja population were standing on the rooftop outside the council room waiting for the meeting to end. Every ninja that wasn't on duty had been ordered to assemble there for an important announcement. They were all talking amongst themselves about the reason they were there.

The buzzing of multiple conversations died down as the doors to the council room opened. The Hokage walked towards them with the members of the council trailing behind him.

Their leader got up onto the podium and all eyes were on him as they waited for him to speak.

He started, "I'm sure everyone is aware of the events that had taken place last night."

--

At the same time Naruto who was holding out the leaf in front of the full moon in the sky thought to himself, "I'm doing something wrong here. If I put too much chakra in, the leaf flies out of my hand. Too little and it won't even affect it."

--

Sarutobi continued, "Yesterday night, almost every member of the Uchiha clan were murdered. Every single person who was in the Uchiha district late last night was attacked and none of those who tried to fight off their assailant lived. Not even the ANBU."

--

Naruto spun the leaf in between his fingertips, 'What I want to do is cut the damn thing with wind like Daikyou-niichan. No matter how much I put in, it doesn't get damaged. I'm sure he didn't need to use a lot put out his hand. This means that the amount I use isn't important.'

--

"From the signs of the struggle within the district, we can infer that a battle took place in the inner area of the district. It is estimated that the duration of the conflict lasted for some time. That's why I find it strange that no one heard or saw anything strange last night."

--

'He said to imagine my chakra as sharp as a knife. He also said that the wind isn't the air itself and that it was the movement.'

--

"From the evidence left at the scene it can be concluded that there was only one assailant," said the Hokage as many of those who listening gasped. "As shocking and impossible as that sounds, the victims' injuries, property damage and the way the weapons were distributed in the area all indicate that there was only one person posing as their opposition."

--

'If I wanted to cut something with a knife, I'd have to run it through. And if the knife was dull, I'd have to do it over and over until I cut it."

--

"At first we found it strange that no one seemed to try to get help but that was cleared up when we acquired the identity of the assailant from the sole witness to the atrocity. Uchiha Sasuke who is undergoing trauma therapy claims to have seen the assailant in action with own eyes and that he admitted that he did it using a genjutsu to show him the entire thing repeatedly to the young boy and that he decided to spare the boy on a whim." Shocked expressions pasted themselves onto many faces.

--

'That means that instead of sending lots of chakra in at one time, I should send it in small amounts as fast as I can over and over until I cut it!' Naruto gripped onto the leaf stalk harder and concentrated on his task despite the burning sensation flowing through his hand.

--

"Furthermore the accused signed in at the south gate at one a.m. last night to leave the village incriminating him even further. He declared that his reason for leaving was to go on a mission according the guards at that time," those who were listening were able to follow where this was going. At least until what they heard next. "However, he has not been assigned any missions for the past few days as he was being prepared for the duties that would have been his should we have gone on to make our decision official this sunday."

--

Ignoring the pain going through his arm, Naruto forced in minute amounts of chakra into the tip of the leaf. Struggling to minimize the amount going into the leaf, Naruto subconsciously started releasing chakra through every other part of his body.

--

The Hokage smiled sadly and said, "Last night, Konoha was robbed of many things. We lost all but one member of the Uchiha clan. We lost most of our law enforcers. We lost much of our military strength." He paused for a brief moment. "Many lost their lives. An innocent child lost his family. The assailant lost his faith in us."

--

Chakra started swirling around Naruto but he didn't pay attention to this rapid waste of energy and continued to send chakra through his fingers even faster. He grit his teeth as the pain intensified slowing down the imminent black out.

--

"And I… lost another successor."

--

The chakra started to form a sphere around Naruto but he still kept his focus on the leaf.

--

Comprehension and grief slowly replaced the confusion in all of them but the Hokage did not stop at that. "From now on, the accused shall be stripped of his rank and will be considered to be traitor. Should he be found, he is to be treated as an S-class missing-nin."

--

Naruto let out a warcry as he pushed in every last bit of chakra that he could into the leaf just as the chakra sphere around him burst sending out a powerful gust of wind that flattened the grass around him and rattled the plant life around him.

--

"From now on, should any of you find him, you are to kill the traitor Uchiha Itachi," declared the Hokage as he stepped off the podium leaving everyone apprehensive and united in opinion. 'Is that even possible?'

--

Naruto let loose a weak smile as he let himself drop to the ground as he himself fell to his body's strong need to shut down.

'I did it…'

Among all the leaves that had been plucked, fallen or blown away, there was one that was split at the tip and separated into two halfway down the middle that was wedged in between Naruto's fingers.

Decided to send this part as one chapter now instead of putting it together with the next one. No side-story this chapter but you will find out what happened after the events of the first one. Next chapter should be the last one before the main story really starts so here's hoping I'll be able to finish this story as soon as possible.

I also just realized how my story title and summary might be confusing since at this point of the story its impossible to tell what I have in mind for the ending. So to make my story more interesting I'll tell you that the ending I have in mind will have a very big surprise in the last chapter and it involves Naruto making a very hard decision.

By the way it'd be nice if someone would put in a review instead of just reading but I understand how you feel seeing as I prefer to lurk myself. It'd also be nice if someone could tell me how to put an extra space in between lines so I can structure the paragraphs the way I want.

11th May 2008 EDIT

Decided to rework the chapters so that the wording is more fluid and some events a bit more realistic. Overall there are no major changes to the story, just minute detail to tie in story events better with everything.


	5. The New Teacher

I don't own Naruto but regarding my last declaration, it's not the only dub I hate

I don't own Naruto but regarding my last declaration, it's not the only dub I hate.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

CHAPTER 4: THE NEW TEACHER

A fine morning would greet the citizens of Konoha today. The air was as fresh and cool as the mountain breeze, the sun was getting along perfectly with the clouds making the weather neither sunny nor cloudy but just right and the morning dew was still glistening on every bit of nature's green. All in all it would be so perfect a morning that warring nations would take breather just to take in the morning air.

"So why is it that I'm stuck dealing with paperwork at such an hour?" grumbled the Hokage. He had been busy dealing with the Uchiha Massacre yesterday that he had no time to approve all the massive amount of paperwork that had been conjured up while he was with the council. To add on to that were the documents regarding the massacre that'd he'd have to deal with as soon as the council got back to work in just an hour. He'd also wanted visit his namesake later but knowing the administrative system, he'd have to pay the lost time with a ridiculous amount of paperwork. He really didn't need anymore on his plate. "I pray to every merciful deity that is listening that nothing else comes up.'"

SLAM

Apparently no one was listening to his plea. Uzumaki Naruto had just opened his office door with enough force to bring the down the large pile of papers in his 'IN' tray. The Hokage would have started crying if the young blonde who had just brought him more trouble hadn't started shouting.

"JIJI! WHERE'S DAIKYOU-NIICHAN! I GOT SOEMTHING I WANNA SHOW HIM!"

Despite his tired demeanor, the Hokage was having some very aggressive thoughts, 'Curse you Itachi! Not only do you kill your family and leave me to wallow in the suffering that is this job, but you also get an innocent young boy to do your dirty work! If I wasn't stuck to this table, I'd go out and …"

Let's put it nicely and say that his thoughts aren't very appropriate for young children.

The Hokage stared at Naruto tiredly and sincerely hoped this was all a nightmare and Itachi would be named Hokage as soon as he woke up. Naruto kept on repeating his question over and over with increasing volume, so much that he'd have to give that notion away to the category of impossibilities. There was no way a dream could be this noisy.

"I'm afraid Naruto, you won't be able to see him for a while," stated the Hokage. Before Naruto could react to that, the Hokage said, "He's out on a long-term mission and he won't be back for a very long time. Could be months before he's done, probably even years."

Disappointment expressed itself on Naruto's face. Naruto didn't need to know just yet. If he did, it'd just add on to the Hokage's list of troubles.

"Dammit!" Swore Naruto as he snapped his fingers.

Despite the fact that a young boy had just said a swear word, the Hokage didn't see the need to reprimand him for it.

"I was going to show him that I finally did it…"

"Did what?" asked the now curious old man.

"Well he showed me a chakra control exercise and last night I finally managed to get it right," said Naruto proudly. "Say, where's Anko-neechan. She and him were in the same team a long time ago right? Maybe she can show me how to make bigger ones!"

"I'm afraid Anko's also out on a long-term mission. She'll back in about two years or so," answered the old man. 'Bigger whats? Can't be explosions since no one complained about it. Well, as long as it's not dangerous."

Unlike earlier, this was the truth.

"Her too?" whined out Naruto as he put on an expression that might have been mistaken for mortification. "Well maybe you can show me how?"

"I'm afraid I can't right now, Naruto. You see, when you came in, you increase the amount of work I have to do. You can tell from the papers that are now scattered on my floor," pointed out the old man as he himself pointed to the papers on his floor.

"Ooops. Sorry about that. I'll just go and leave you alone," apologized Naruto just before he ran out and left busy man.

The Hokage got up out of his eat and proceeded to pick up the papers on the floor.

"He better take my job soon or else I'm going to die drowning in these things," grumbled the Hokage.

--

'Great! Just when I want them around, they both pull a Nozomu-sensei on me,' thought Naruto irritably at all the people who suddenly decided that it'd be good time to leave him alone. It was after that thought that Naruto stopped jumping between rooftops to stop and think on a particular one.

"Ah, I'm alone…" said Naruto in a surprised tone eyes widening. The miserable feeling started filling him reminding him of what it had been like before he met them. He hadn't felt it for a long time. Even though there were periods of time where he hadn't seen or heard from the pair in the past, he never felt the pangs of loneliness then.

He had grown accustomed to them over the past to years. So much that he considered them to be his friends. He never called anyone else that before meeting them. He never felt that he needed them then. He got used to the loneliness and simply ignored the pain it brought.

But now, knowing that he wouldn't see them again for a long time, that they weren't even in the village, that they wouldn't be around to watch him, that there wasn't anyone he could really talk to, it really hit him hard.

'And they're on missions. ANBU missions. I might never see them again…'

That hit him the hardest. He knew that any mission they take could be their last but it didn't really occur to him till now. The pain he felt from realizing it was intense. And because of that realization, the loneliness settled in where it had been two years ago.

'But, they'll be back. They're strong. Really strong, they'll definitely come back,' thought Naruto trying to convince himself of their definite return. The pain eased a little but its presence still lingered.

Naruto felt a soft breeze pass him by and with it were a few leaves gliding in the air. He reached out and made to grab one. He caught it by the its stalk and just looked at it for a while.

He took in a breath and closed his eyes. He mentally counted to three and proceeded to perform the chakra control exercise he'd been doing for the past few days.

He opened his eyes. At first glance he thought that he hadn't succeeded but upon closer inspection he noticed that there was a small cut at along the edge of the leaf. It was so small that it was barely even noticeable. It definitely didn't live up to what he had done last night but at least it was something.

He smiled at it.

'And when they come back, I'll show them how much stronger I've become.'

The pain was not yet gone but compared to before, it was much easier to cope with.

--

Class was about to start soon but Naruto was still dealing with the angry screaming banshees that had been screaming at him from the moment he entered the classroom. They even followed him to his seat and scared away his benchmates.

'Don't they ever get tired of yelling so much? All that screaming can't be good for their throats,' thought Naruto as he tried the block out the ear piercing shrieks. 'If I could do what Daikyou-niichan did, I wouldn't have to risk hearing impairment. Maybe I should've just skipped again.'

"Ahem!" said a voice.

Surprisingly enough, despite the voice's smaller volume, everyone seemed to have heard it over the shrieks that an elderly religious couple in a nearby would mistake for an exorcism. To them it seemed plausible considering recent events.

"Girls, it'd be nice if you could quiet down and return to your seats," said the chuunin instructor in front of them.

The present members of the Uchiha Sasuke fan club mumbled an apology to their chair and quickly returned to their seats not missing the opportunity to throw a dirty look at Naruto. Two of the girls actually managed to ooze out killing intent while doing so.

The chuunin down in front opened the file in his hands and started taking attendance.

"Reigaku Sakuya?" asked the brown haired man. "Is she sick?"

"No. She's out trying to sneak into Sasuke-san's hospital room," answered one Aburame Shino in a monotone.

As ridiculous as that sounds, no one could deny how scary girls in love can be.

'Hospital room?' wondered Naruto. 'What did I miss while I was gone?'

"Okay then, absent," said the man as he marked it down. "Tamotsu Shinobu?"

"Here!"

"Okay… next is…hmm," said the man as he appeared to be wondering about something. "Class have you all heard about what happened two days ago?"

Some kids said yes and some said no. Those who said yes didn't look to be happy about knowing.

"Well then… I guess I better tell the rest of you now," said the chuunin. "You see, two nights ago, Uchiha Sasuke's entire family had been killed in a massacre."

Students who hadn't known looked shocked and those that did weren't much better off.

'All those people? In one night!' thought Naruto. At first the most distinguishable emotion was shock but then it turned to something that made Naruto feel disgusted at himself for thinking about.

"As you can imagine he's going to feel sad and alone, so when he comes back I want you all to make him feel better," said the man who had a scar above his nose. "What that boy needs right now are friends so I want everyone to do their best to cheer him up!"

The majority of the class spiritedly shouted, "YES, SIR!"

"Okay back to attendance… Uzumaki Naruto?" asked the man. He looked sternly at the boy in question and said, "I suppose that's you then. You will call me Iruka-sensei. I will be replacing Nozomu-sensei as your instructor," said the Iruka. "Now tell me Naruto-san, why have been missing lessons? With your history, I know the answer couldn't possibly be sickness."

'Another one who hates me…' thought Naruto. "I was doing something that was actually worth my time!"

"And that would be?" said the man still wearing the same expression. He said in a way that people knew would result in punishment if the answer wasn't satisfactory.

"Training!" answered Naruto boldly.

A vein popped on the chuunin's forehead.

"Get down here, now!" ordered Iruka.

Naruto did as he was told.

"Now, from what I understand, you have been at the academy for four terms including this one making you the others' senior by technicality," said the chuunin. "Am I correct?"

"Yes," answered Naruto. "Why are asking me this?"

"Because, my little friend, while you away 'training', your friends here have been studying how to perform Henge," said the man.

Naruto could see where this was going. This new teacher of his was going to humiliate him.

"Seeing as you are their senior, I would like for you to demonstrate to them how it's done," said the chuunin.

'Better get this over with. It'll give me less trouble for the rest of the year,' thought Naruto irritably. "Fine."

"Good. Now I want you to transform into Hokage-sama," Iruka paused. "You do know what Hokage-sama looks like, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," growled Naruto.

"Then get to it!"

Naruto breathed in and closed his eyes. He pictured the Hokage as clearly as he could, visualizing an exact likeness of him in his mind. He did the hand seals and white plumes of smoke engulfed him.

"Naruto, what on earth do you think you're doing?" asked the chuunin as he stared at Naruto's poor excuse of a henge. His forehead showed signs of an angry vein.

Instead of it coming out looking like a perfect copy of the old man, Naruto's henge looked like one of those mythical monsters called tengu. The nose was as long as a kunai as a kunai and it had warts on it. To add to the image was the fact that this Hokage was still at as tall as Naruto himself and that he looked like a deformed midget.

POOF

Naruto lost his concentration when he heard that question knowing that his henge had come out wrong. But the class and Iruka thought that he had meant it to be a joke. He could only laugh it off as some of his classmates snickered at this display.

"Naruto! Stop playing around. Show them a proper henge!" demanded Iruka.

Naruto once again did as he did earlier only this time he concentrated harder on the image and extending his chakra higher.

POOF

Iruka could only stare at what was before him. So did the rest of the class.

It looked exactly the same as it did earlier. It looked that way to the untrained eye but to a Hyuuga they'd realize that Naruto had made his second attempt's hat slightly higher and pointier.

"Don't tell me that this is the best you can do," Iruka deadpanned.

The rest of the class started laughing. A particularly loud one came from one Inuzuka Kiba.

Naruto dispelled the henge over him and scowled glaring at Iruka blaming him for this embarrassing situation.

The glare still kept up even when Naruto saw Iruka's disappointed frown instead of the smug sneer that he expected.

'Shouldn't he be happy that his plan worked?'

--

"Well then class, based on your attempts today, I'd like you all to practice over the weekend and be ready for when you come back on Monday." Students moaned. "You may all go now, except for Naruto. There's something I want to speak to him about."

Naruto stayed in his seat as he watched the other students leave. Some of them snickered as they glanced at him. Naruto grumbled.

"Naruto, come over here. There's something I wan to discuss with you," said the chuunin.

Naruto complied with the order.

"What do you want with me?" asked the boy.

Ignoring the disrespectful tone that Naruto had said that with, Iruka proceeded to ask him, "Naruto you've been here at the academy for more than three years now, so why is it you can't perform a proper henge?"

Naruto hadn't been expecting him to want to talk about that. Usually the people who hated him either did their best to do him ill or leave him alone. That's why he could only respond in one such way.

"Huh?"

"I said I want to know why you can't do a simple henge," repeated the man thinking the boy misheard.

"Why do you want to know? Are you going to use what I say to embarrass me again?" quipped Naruto.

Iruka put on a bewildered expression.

"Embarrass you? What kind of person do you take me for!" said the chuunin. He was obviously offended. "I wasn't trying to embarrass you, I was trying to show the class what their senior learnt from his years in the academy!"

Naruto became confused at his teacher's words.

"Look, Naruto," the teacher started. "I know of your reputation and the public's general opinion of you, but as an educator I must disregard all that and continue to teach indiscriminately."

Naruto's face betrayed his disbelief.

"I know it's probably hard on you with your life, but despite what you may be, you are my student before that," the chuunin stopped for a brief moment. "That's why I want you to come here tomorrow at eight so I can help you with your problem."

Iruka started gathering the things on his table preparing to leave the room while Naruto was still struggling with what he said.

"Why are you doing this? Don't you hate me like everyone else here?" asked Naruto still not believing him.

Iruka looked at him and sighed.

"Naruto, as I said before, I am your teacher and you are my student."

With that Iruka left Naruto in the room.

--

Naruto despite his suspicions towards his new teacher's action went ahead and came to the academy the next morning.

Iruka was there at the gate waiting for him.

"Well then, let's get going."

--

"Okay based on what I've read in your profile, I understand that you are capable of performing Kawarimi, a ninjutsu but you have yet to demonstrate the ability to perform the genjutsus, Henge and Bunshin, taught at the academy," stated Iruka.

Iruka wanted them to train someplace where people wouldn't bother them. Strangely enough it was the same place that Naruto had been training his chakra control.

"Yeah…" replied Naruto.

"I think that you probably lack the control to perform these jutsus. I assume you know a few chakra control exercises."

"Yeah, I do."

"Have you been doing them regularly?"

"It was what I missed the academy for. I actually spent more than two whole days doing them."

"And yet you still can't do henge… That probably means you have way too much chakra in you."

"I have too much chakra? Am I going to explode!" shouted Naruto comically just before he started expelling chakra out of his hands.

Iruka stared at the boy.

'That's quite a bit of chakra for someone his age,' thought Iruka as he observed the pale blue glow on Naruto's hand. The amount he was expelling was actually enough to push the air hard enough to form a gentle breeze in Iruka's direction. "Naruto you won't explode. I meant that you had too much chakra for you to control properly."

"Oh," breathed out Naruto as he stopped expelling chakra relieved of the fear of spontaneous self-combustion.

'He doesn't even look winded from that,' thought Iruka.

"So it's because I have too much chakra that I can't do them? Then why can I do Kawarimi?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, at least that's what I think. As for Kawarimi, it's a ninjutsu, meaning that you require less control to perform it. In fact it's probably something you're naturally good at since you need more chakra the farther your target is."

"Oh, then because of my chakra, I'll never be able to do genjutsu?" asked Naruto looking worried.

"No, that's not it at all," Naruto perked up at this. "So long as you keep doing your chakra control exercises, you'll be able to do them one day."

"Yay! So all I have to keep doing is my chakra control training!" shouted Naruto happily. "But then, why are you here? If all I need to do is that, then there's no reason for you to be here."

"Actually Naruto, I brought you here to teach you the ninjutsu variant of Henge. I thought that it'll be easier for you to do since Hokage-sama told me that your body could easily cope with the jutsu's drawbacks."

"A different version of henge? Is it more powerful than the normal one? And what do you mean by drawbacks?" asked the boy excitedly.

"Well you could say it's more powerful even though there's no real offensive power in it. It's called Kokei Katachi Henge. Instead of layering your body with chakra you spread it throughout your body making it easier to do. This version actually changes the user's form by containing the user's body within the chakra shell body. Unlike the normal version this version isn't as easily dispelled since it's actually ninjutsu and that you can change your size and shape to anything you want."

"Then why are we taught the normal one. If it's easier to do and that much stronger, why aren't we taught that one?" asked Naruto.

"Well I was getting to the drawbacks of the jutsu. Compared to the normal version, you actually need a lot more chakra to do this one and that it puts your body under stress. Especially the more elaborate your image is," explained the chuunin. "But with your body and large chakra capacity, it's actually more suitable for you unlike you're your classmates."

"Really! So does this mean I'll be able to do a jutsu more powerful than they can?" asked Naruto excitedly.

"Yes, you will."

"Yahoo!" shouted Naruto happily.

Iruka smiled at this action but wondered about the rumors he's heard.

"Come let's get started! I want to be able to shove it in their faces ASAP!"

--

Hours had flown by in a flash as Naruto and Iruka worked on the jutsu. It was now near the time for the sun to set.

"Well the Naruto, you seem to be able to do the jutsu almost perfectly but you still need to pay closer attention to detail and visualize your target better," said the chuunin. He was tired from the training.

"Say, Iruka-sensei. You said I could change myself into any shape I want with this jutsu, right?" ask the still energetic Naruto.

"Yes, why?" asked Iruka wondering about the reason behind that question. "It's basically the same as henge."

"But you can't do this with henge!" shouted Naruto.

POOF

Iruka was baffled at what Naruto was trying to prove. After all the smoke cleared away, Iruka couldn't see anyone else in the area but there was now a kunai lying on the ground.

'Probably just wanted to go home,' thought Iruka as he made to pick up the kunai that he thought Naruto dropped in his escape.

He picked it up and suddenly had the urge to throw it at the training dummy in the area. It flew through the air and was about to just before it could embed itself in the wooden structure white smoke erupted from it.

Instead of seeing the kunai embedded in the raining dummy, Naruto was grinning doing a victory sign with his left hand on the training dummy.

"Yatta! It worked!" shouted Naruto. He started dancing on the dummy,

Iruka wasn't as excited at what Naruto had done. He was dumbfounded.

"What the? Naruto! But how did…" he trailed off as he realized what just happened. He slumped down and squatted on the ground thinking about it. 'He changed into a kunai. An inanimate object. It even felt like a kunai. The weight, appearance, texture and size were exactly the same as any other kunai. I didn't think that one could actually do that.'

Naruto stopped dancing as he heard Iruka start to laugh.

"What's so funny!" shouted Naruto over to him as he made his way to chuunin who was now sitting on the ground using his arms to prop his torso up.

"Well, it's just that it never occurred to me that you could do that," Iruka chuckled.

Naruto didn't understand what was so funny about that.

"If only I could've done that when I was your age," started the man. "The tricks I could have played on everyone."

"Huh? You like to play pranks on people, Iruka-sensei!" asked the ginning Naruto.

"I USED to play pranks on people," said the man. "Thinking about all the things I did just to get friends really makes me want to laugh."

"You mean you played pranks to get friends when you were a kid? Did that actually work?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Yeah it did. In fact, me and Nozomu met because of one my pranks."

"Really!"

"You know what, I even once wore a bright orange outfit just to get attention!"

He started laughing again.

Naruto did too.

After a while they finally stopped.

"Hey, Naruto."

"Yeah, sensei?"

"Wanna go get something to eat? I'll pay."

"Sure!"

"Good, cause I know this really good place that sells some tasty ramen?"

"Ramen? What's that?"

"You don't know? Well then, you'll find out once we get there."

And so the teacher and student went on their way to eat a meal that Naruto would never ever forget.

That's about it for setting up the foundation. Next chapter will be the start of the main story. It might take a while for me to finish it since I want to put a great fight scene in there. There will also be a side-story about Kakashi in there.

Kokei Katachi Henge – Solid Shape Transformation, at least according to my translator program

By the way regarding, the previous chapter did anyone feel the impression of power when I made Itachi do that overkill demonstration?

Now on to the Itachi side-story

11th May 2008 EDIT

Decided to rework the chapters so that the wording is more fluid and some events a bit more realistic. Overall there are no major changes to the story, just minute detail to tie in story events better with everything.

ITACHI AND THE CONTRACT

A week had passed after Itachi summoned the black penguin-like creature and since then he'd been trying to remember what had happened in the forest. When he inspected the scroll that he had in his hand at the time, he found that it had his name written on it in what appeared to be blood and that there were three empty columns in it. He's been carrying it around hoping to remember what it was for.

Surprisingly enough he did, but not because he was carrying the scroll itself. It was because his mom had dressed Sasuke up in a penguin styled costume. At first he shuddered at the possibility of his mother dressing him up like that when he was younger but fortunately for him the Kyuubi came when he was Sasuke's age leaving his parents too busy to commit such an atrocity.

Because of the memory that returned, he had been trying to figure out how to summon the penguin again. He performed the hand seals again but nothing happened even when he went to the same pond like last time.

He thought that he might need to find the old scroll he found but that probably got blasted away to parts unknown judging from how big the explosion had been.

Then there was the scroll that had been given to him. What purpose did it serve him? He knew that he wasn't supposed to lose it since it had his name on it.

'Maybe I'm supposed to write my name in it like last time,' thought Itachi.

He proceeded to bite his thumb and let blood ooze out of the torn sin. He made to sign his name in blood in one of the columns but the moment he touched it with his thumb, white smoke filled up the public restroom he was in.

He quickly used a wind technique to blow the smoke out of the room.

After he was done, he could hear splashes coming from the stalls in the restroom. He kicked the nearest stall open and saw what he'd waiting for.

There was a penguin stuck in the toilet bowl that was trying to climb out but failing. Itachi proceeded to pull it out.

He noticed that the thing was yellow instead of black like last time and that it was furry instead of feathery. But he also noticed that the splashing sounds hadn't stopped.

The penguin pointed to the stall adjacent to it and Itachi proceed to rescue the other unfortunate creatures stuck in their respective toilets.

--

"So why were you all stuck in the toilet?" asked Itachi.

"Why did you summon us in a bathroom, dood?!" shot back one of the blue penguins. Its eyes were all white while the other two had brown eyes staring at it.

'Must be because it's angry,' reasoned Itachi.

"Actually I think this is a public restroom. Bathrooms have showers in them, dood," pointed out the other blue penguin.

"WHATEVER, DOOD!"

'What strange creatures…' thought Itachi. He noticed that unlike normal penguins, these ones had peg-legs instead of feet and were wearing brown pouches. He also noticed that they had dopey stares when they were calm, that they said dude at the end of their sentences and that they had little black wings on their back. 'Guess those flippers must be their arms?'

"Um… what's your name, dood?" asked the yellow penguin who had been staring around the restroom.

"Call me Itachi," said Itachi. "What are you creatures? I've seen penguins and they don't look that much like you three. They're not this colorful. And where's that black one I summoned last time?"

"We're called prinnies. We are sinners who have been put into these bodies to repent for our sins. We work under the name of the Shinigami and provide service to him and his contracters. Our colors depend on how long we must work before we are done. And that black prinny was our master who still happens to be mad at you for kicking him, dood," answered the yellow one.

"Ah,"

"May I ask you a question Itachi-sama, dood?"

"Go ahead."

"Have urinals been removed from restrooms in the past few years, dood?"

"No, why?"

"Because the only other explanation as to why there is a lack of urinals in here would be that this is the women's room, dood."

"That's because it is."

"Then what are you doing in here, dood?"

"Hiding from my team, this would be the last place they'd look," answered Itachi as if it was a normal reason for his strange behavior. "Now tell me why do you keep saying dood?"

Before the yellow prinny could say anything, a young girl that Itachi knew fairly well was making a mad dash towards him.

"ITACHIIIIIIIIIII!" screamed the girl.

Itachi knew that it'd be a bad idea but he did like explosions.

In the blink of an eye, he kicked the prinnies towards the girl.

"DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!" screamed the prinnies.

Konoha would forever remember that day as the 'Day of the Ridiculously Many Painfully Hard Flying Toilets'.


	6. The Scroll and The Book

I don't own Naruto and I don't think I ever will

I don't own Naruto and I don't think I ever will.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

CHAPTER 5: THE SCROLL AND THE BOOK

Once again, the genin exams have rolled around the academy grounds. To his classmates it would be their first time, but to Uzumaki Naruto it'd be his fourth.

Despite all the progress he's made the past two years, the twelve year old had failed his last two tries. Both had their own particular reasons for it but the more memorable reason was last year's one.

Naruto was sure he'd pass no matter what this year. There was no foreseeable reason should the outcome say otherwise.

'I'll definitely become a genin this year!' thought the boy as he walked through the doorway in order to face the final bout of his exam.

Upon seeing the two men who'd be judging his worth as an ally, Naruto recalled all the hard he'd been putting in.

"Candidate no. 27, Uzumaki Naruto," said Iruka who was now looking at the orange-clad boy. "You are required to show us that you are capable of performing the jutsus, Henge and Bunshin. Points will be given depending on your proficiency and you are allowed to show us any other jutsus you know for bonus points. Are you ready?"

Naruto nodded.

The other man with him who was called Mizuki stood up and then said, "Please use henge to disguise yourself as me."

A poof of smoke later and now standing in Naruto's place was an exact likeness of Mizuki.

The actual person walked up to his mirror image performed a hand seal and said, "Kai!"

Nothing happened.

He stepped back from the impostor and said, "Good. Now change back and perform Bunshin, make as many as you can."

Naruto returned to his normal self and closed his eyes and mentally counted to three as he normally did with things he normally had trouble with.

Naruto put his hand in his pockets and pulled them out to do hand seals.

The chuunin noticed that Naruto seemed to have done the seals in the wrong sequence.

Two poofs of smoke later and besides the original were two dead looking Naruto's. Dead as in lying on the grounds with arms outstretched and having pale white skin.

"What the?" said both Mizuki and Iruka. Their reaction was a result of the fact that the technique still seemed to work but not perfectly despite the obvious mistakes in the hand seals.

"Sorry Naruto, that doesn't pass the requirements," said the silver-haired chuunin as he was about to mark it down on his clipboard.

"Wait Mizuki-sensei! I know they looked bad but touch them," said the boy.

The silver haired man said, "Touch them?"

"Yeah, go ahead and touch them," insisted the boy.

The man bent down and touched one of the dead looking ones and expected the illusion to dispel itself.

But the man's hand did not pass through and instead rested on the blonde boy's pale imitation's head.

Mizuki had his eyes wide open, "It's solid! This isn't Bunshin. At least not the normal one."

"Naruto, where did you learn this jutsu? It doesn't seem like any of the other variations I know about," asked the brown haired man sitting behind the table.

"I made it myself!" claimed the boy. The men in the room looked surprised at his answer.

"You made it yourself?" asked Mizuki not believing the boy.

"Yeah, I did. It's not perfect yet though," said the blonde. Obviously both men could see that. "I can't make people right using it but if it's dead or something like a kunai, then I can make those."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Iruka.

Naruto pulled out a small pebble out of his pockets and showed it to them. It looked anything but extraordinary. He then clasped it in his palm and do what they earlier thought were a set of mistaken hand seals.

A plume of white smoke emerged from Naruto's hands and once Naruto pulled his hand out of it, a large shuriken the size of the clock in the room could be seen.

Naruto then grinned and threw it at Iruka.

Both men weren't expecting this. Iruka who was shocked at what Naruto had done didn't move from his spot.

Mizuki was about to yell for Iruka to move but became even more surprised as instead of dismembering Iruka's head, the shuriken erupted in a puff of white smoke and instead of suffering a major pain in his neck, Iruka got hit by the same small pebble that Naruto was holding earlier.

Both men had their eyes bugged out shocked at the turn of events.

Then they heard laughter coming from the blonde boy who had thrown what seemed to be a shuriken at the brown haired man.

"WAHAHAHA!" laughed the boy. "You should have seen your faces!"

The looks on both men quickly turned vicious.

--

A minute later after the two men had calmed down enough to stop punishing Naruto for his little prank. They began to ask him questions.

"How did you do that?" asked Iruka.

Holding his head, the boy scowled at the men for not being able to take a joke. Oh and also because of the punches they threw at him.

"Can't you guys take a joke?" whined the boy. "All I did was use Kokei Katachi Henge on the pebble and turn it into a shuriken. Now do I pass?"

"I see… but didn't that take up a lot of your chakra? I mean using it on yourself takes quite a bit, but to use it on something else…" said Mizuki.

"Knowing him, it's probably nothing compared to his total capacity," said Iruka as he walked to the table in the room.

Iruka took out a forehead protector from the box on the table and was about to give to Naruto when Mizuki snatched it out of his hand.

The other two stared at the man.

"Mizuki, give Naruto his forehead protector."

"No! He may have done a jutsu like that but we need to have him do jutsu that he can use to distract enemies," said the chuunin.

"Well that's true… do you have one, Naruto?" asked Iruka.

A glint of mischief materialized itself in Naruto's eyes.

He smiled eerily and said, "How about this one?"

The two men in the room knew that couldn't be a good sign.

Naruto proceed to form some hand seals and white smoke started forming around his body and quickly filled up the room.

Neither of the men could see anything.

"Shiroi Kemuri no Jutsu. My first original technique," said Naruto's voice.

"That little brat!" growled Mizuki eyes watering from the smoke. He then felt a tug on the forehead protector in his hand and gripped it even harder.

"Man, you're stubborn!" came Naruto's voice. Mizuki couldn't feel the tugging anymore. "Fuuton: Gatai Kuuki!"

Immediately the men suddenly felt as if the room was shaking and that something very hard was pushing onto their bodies with immense pressure.

Mizuki let go the forehead protector because of the turbulence he was experiencing and fell down.

A few moments later, the shaking stopped along with strong winds and the smoke had been ventilated out a window.

"Damn that kid!" shouted Mizuki as he ran out the door.

"Wait Mizuki!" shouted Iruka. Mizuki disappeared from his line of sight decided to just let him go.

He prepared to leave the room himself but then noticed something odd. Something that really shouldn't be there. Something that he'd have a lot trouble with in the future. There would be no end to the chaos they'd bring to him so long as he lives. He bent over and picked one up by the collar and looked at it.

'Why are Naruto's clones still here?'

--

"Naruto! Wait!" shouted Mizuki over to Naruto as they ran across rooftops. "I'm not going to take your forehead protector! I just want to talk!"

"About what!" shouted Naruto to the chuunin. "That I shouldn't be allowed to pass the exam and become a genin!"

"Not a genin!"

It seemed as if Naruto's words came to be. The boy had an angry scowl on his face after hearing them.

"But a chuunin!"

Naruto was shocked to hear that and immediately stopped running and turned around to face the chuunin who had just caught up with him.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Naruto suspiciously.

Mizuki was holding onto his knees panting from the roof hopping routine that they just went through.

"I mean that Hokage-sama set aside a special test for you," explained the man still panting. Naruto had an eyebrow raised at this. "He wants you to take another test tonight. You already went through four genin exams and because of that he wants to see if you're strong enough to be a chuunin yet."

Naruto hadn't been expecting to encounter a chance like this. 'Chuunin starting on my first day…'

"Pass and you become a chuunin. Fail and you'll still become a genin," said the man. Mizuki then smirked knowing that his next sentence would do it, "However, if you think you aren't strong enough to be one you can just skip it and stay as a low ranking ninja for a year or so."

Hearing that, Naruto shouted determinedly, "I'll take it! What do I have to do?"

"Good boy…"

--

Hours later at the Hokage's tower, Iruka had just arrived to hear of the declaration of an emergency. He asked one of his fellow academy teachers for the situation's breakdown.

"What's happened?"

"Iruka! The demon brat stole the Scroll of Forbidden Seals!"

"Naruto did what?! What's he up to now?!"

Iruka immediately ran out of the building intent on finding the blonde troublemaker.

--

"That's one down! Now I'll b able to make good ones!" shouted Naruto cheerily as he sat back down in front of the scroll ready to learn the next jutsu.

It wouldn't be a few minutes until Iruka arrived on the scene to find Naruto reading the large scroll so intensely that he could walk up tight in front of the boy and startle him by asking, "Naruto! What do you think you're doing?"

"WAH!" screamed the blonde as he looked at the man who to him seemingly popped out thin air. "Iruka-sensei! What are you doing here! Are you part of the test too?"

"Test? What test?" asked the perplexed men.

"Great, you're not! Then can you help me with these jutsus? Mizuki-sensei said the more I can do, the higher my score's gonna be!" said the boy as he pulled Iruka down next to him.

"Mizuki? Score? What's going on here Naruto?" asked the chuunin.

Naruto looked at the man impatiently, "Mizuki-sensei said that if managed to learn the jutsus in this thing, I'll become a chuunin instead of a genin! He said to wait here and learn as many as I can until he gets here, now help me with this thing!"

"What on earth?" said the man to himself as he processed the information. By the time he realized what was going, he pushed Naruto out of the way of the weapons being flung at them.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing Iruka-sensei…" trailed off the boy as he assessed the brown-haired man's appearance. Naruto looked appalled.

There were shuriken and kunai sticking out of parts of his body and blood was oozing out the wounds staining part of the large scroll next to the man.

"Naruto, run! Take the scroll and protect it from Mizuki!" shouted the man as he glared at Mizuki who was crouching on a tree branch some distance away from him. "Mizuki's a traitor! Leave me and take the scroll!"

"As loyal as ever eh, Iruka?" said the traitor as he jumped onto the ground. "And you even save the demon's life."

"Iruka sensei…" started the boy. Naruto ran through his toolkit for medical supplies. "I'm not going to let you die! Hang in there!"

"Naruto! Just go and get out of here!" shouted the chuunin fiercely making Naruto freeze.

"Oh yeah, he killed your parents too," said Mizuki as he grabbed the giant shuriken on his back. "Well you can rest easy since he'll be going with you!"

Naruto stood there angry not recognizing the danger that he was in. "What do you mean I killed Iruka-sensei's parents! He told me that he lost them when the Kyuubi attacked!"

"Wouldn't that be you, Kyuubi!" shouted the man as he threw the giant star at the boy.

Naruto couldn't bring himself to dodge the giant as memories of the many people who hated him ran through his head.

Hard metal met flesh.

"NARUTO!" yelled out Iruka looking at the boy unable to move.

Naruto looked dumbly at the metal object embedded in between his left shoulder and his neck. He touched it and stumbled backwards onto a tree. Whether it was because of the shock from hearing that he was the Kyuubi or because of the attack itself, Naruto couldn't feel any pain, just a numbing sensation.

'Is this what it feels like to die?" thought the boy as his sight slowly faded to black.

--

"Huh? Where am I?" said the blonde as he stood up. "Is this heaven or is it hell?"

Naruto finds himself to be standing in what appeared to be a sewer tunnel. He was in ankle deep water. Or at least something that looked like water.

"Guess must be hell if it's this dirty."

Naruto started walking along the tunnel and continued to wander around the network of tunnels for what felt like an eternity until he came across a particular tunnel that seemed to lead to somewhere else other than another tunnel. He went through it and found that on the other end was what seemed to be one side of a gigantic cage.

"What is this thing?" said Naruto as he approached closer.

He noticed that there was a paper talisman stuck to the cage's barred doors. He also noticed that the water inside the cage was reddish instead of the dirty yellow tinge of the water that he was standing in. The water inside the cage also seemed to be moving as if it was a live. Naruto was entranced at the sight of it.

"**I FINALLY GET TO MEET YOU, BRAT!**" boomed a deep and feral sounding voice. "**TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH!**"

"What the?!" shouted Naruto, startled from the sudden appearance of a gigantic fox head on the other side of the cage and its voice.

"**HMPH! AT LEAST WE MET BEFORE IT WAS TOO LATE!**" growled the giant fox. "**YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO TELL WHO I AM FROM MY TAILS, BRAT! NOW REMOVE THAT SEAL FROM MY CAGE AND LET ME OUT!**"

Naruto looked at the fox more intently and noticed the nine tails hanging in the air around the fox's head.

"You're the Kyuubi!" shouted Naruto as he pointed at the giant head. "Wait a second! Isn't that supposed to be me?"

"**YES, THAT'S WHY YOU SHOULD BE ON THIS SIDE OF THE CAGE! NOW HURRY UP AND PULL OFF THAT SEAL SO WE CAN TRADE PLACES!**" in its most sarcastic tone.

Naruto didn't pick up on the sarcasm though.

"Oh," said Naruto believing the fox. He walked up to the paper talisman and tried to peel it off.

"**WELL HURRY UP! LET ME OUT OF HERE! I HAVEN'T TASTED FRESH AIR FOR YEARS!**"

"It won't come off!" said Naruto as he tried to peel off the piece of paper. He stopped when he realized something, "Hold on! You just said you haven't had fresh air for years! And come to think of it if I'm the Kyuubi then why am I on this side and don't have any tails? You tricked me!"

"**DAMN, ALMOST WORKED TOO,**"muttered Kyuubi despite the fact that it seemed more like a roar to Naruto**. **"**YES BRAT, I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL KYUUBI AND APPARENTLY YOU ARE THE BRAT WHO I GOT SEALED INTO TWELVE YEARS AGO!**"

"Sealed? So I'm not a by product of you being here?" asked Naruto.

"**IT'D BE SO MUCH EASIER TO GET OUT OF HERE IF THAT WERE TRUE…" **it muttered once more.** "AND HOW ON EARTH DID SOMEONE LIKE YOU COME TO THAT CONCLUSION? I WAS ACTUALLY EXPECTING YOU TO SCREAM AT ME FOR ASKING YOUR LIFE MISERABLE, YOU KNOW.**"

"Come to think of it, shouldn't I?" asked Naruto as he nodded his head to the side and crossed his arms. "Well, I guess now that I'm dead it doesn't matter anymore."

"**DEAD? WE'RE BOTH STILL HERE DIMWIT. AND I DON'T HAVE ALL OF YOUR MEMORIES YET SO YOU HAVE TO BE ALIVE.**"

"Huh? What?" said Naruto dumbly. "So this isn't hell?"

The giant fox was now staring intently at the boy creeping Naruto out.

"**SO THAT'S WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON OUTSIDE… BOY, YOU BETTER GET OUT OF HERE NOW IF YOU WANT TO LIVE! THAT TRAITOR IS GOING TO KILL YOU IF HE FINDS OUT THAT YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!**"

The fox then barred his teeth and some of the red water seeped under the cage and rushed towards Naruto.

"What the!" said Naruto as he was suddenly knocked down by a wave of red water.

"**SOMEONE AS INTERESTING AS YOU SHOULDN'T DISAPPEAR JUST YET…"**

--

"Why did you have to bring him into this! He was just an innocent child!" shouted Iruka.

"In case you didn't realize, I just killed the demon fox! You should be happy that I avenged you parents," said Mizuki as he approached Iruka.

"He wasn't the fox. He was Naruto!" shouted Iruka.

"Man you're noisy, better finish you off too," said Mizuki.

Mizuki pulled a kunai out of one of Iruka's wounds remembering to twist at the same time.

Iruka grunted in pain and glared defiantly at Mizuki.

"Say hi to the demon for me when you get to hell!" shouted Mizuki.

Mizuki brought his rapidly hand down to stab Iruka with the kunai.

"ARGGH!" screamed Mizuki.

The kunai never reached Iruka as a giant shuriken flew through the air and separated Mizuki's left hand from its wrist splattering blood all over Iruka's face.

Both men looked at the source of the thrown weapon.

"Naruto!" said both men but with different tones.

"I won't let you kill Iruka-sensei!" said the boy.

Naruto was standing up glaring Mizuki. There was gash running along the left part of his torso but it wasn't very deep. It seems as though the forehead protector he had in his jacket took the brunt of the attack and bent into two sections judging by the way it was sticking out of his jacket. His hair was covering his eyes so neither men could see the red irises behind them.

"DEMON!" roared Mizuki as he charged Naruto with a kunai in his functioning hand.

Naruto grinned.

'This power… I felt it before,' thought the boy to himself. Naruto began to perform a set of hand seals and shouted, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Poofs of smoke materialized themselves around the clearing and when it cleared up, hundreds of copies of the boy were standing around them looking ready to beat up the traitor.

The original Naruto's eyes returned to normal and let out a battlecry and proceeded to charge at Mizuki. The others quickly followed suit.

--

"So how was that?" asked the now grinning Naruto as he pointed towards the now unrecognizable Mizuki.

"Not bad," replied Iruka. He looked at the boy smiling, "Naruto you saved my life. That is something no demon would ever do so never let others tell you otherwise."

"Don't worry. I know I'm no demon!" said the boy as his damaged forehead protector fell out of his jacket. "Ah, my forehead protector!"

Iruka looked at the damaged forehead protector. He then smiled as Naruto whined about it not being usable anymore.

"Naruto, come here and close your eyes."

"Why?" said the boy as he approached the man.

"Just close your eyes."

Naruto closed them. He felt something tighten itself around is head.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

He did so and touched his forehead. He was now wearing Iruka's forehead protector.

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei!" said the boy as he hugged his teacher.

"Ow. Naruto, I'm still injured here," said the man.

"Sorry!" said Naruto as he released his hold on the teacher. "Thanks again Iruka-sensei!"

"You have to do me a favor in exchange for that forehead protector though."

"What's that?"

Now this was a moment where words like 'Be a great ninja"' might have sounded appropriate but that wasn't what happened.

"Dispel the clones you left at the academy. I can't seem to move them very far from their spots."

--

"How long is the guy going to make us wait?" whined Naruto as he laid his face on top of the bench.

He didn't get a reply from either of the other two occupants in the room.

The other male occupant was a boy called Uchiha Sasuke who had dark hair and eyes and an attitude to match the color. For the past three hours or so, he's been staring at the same spot on the wall doing his best to ignore the person who was doing her best to gain his attention.

The other person in the room was a cheerful pink-haired, green eyed girl that went by the name of Haruno Sakura. She was the one who was doing all the talking in the one sided dialogue between the contrasting pair.

Naruto was bored and lately whenever he was bored, he'd get an irresistible urge to play a trick on people. He was starting to think that the fox was sending him all these urges and would've tried asking it.

Seeing as he's currently bored waiting for someone who was about three hours late, Naruto's expecting the urge to come.

Suddenly, the world around him seemed to turn grey and everything slowed down. The urge was coming and so was an idea.

It came and the world returned to normal. Naruto grinned ear to ear and walked to the bucket at the side of the teacher's table.

He picked it up and brought it with him to the door. He poured out all the water into the floor under the doorframe and later replaced the bucket in its original position.

Both Sakura and Sasuke watched their teammate walk back to his seat wearing an evil smile on his face.

'What's he up to?' they both wondered.

The answer came in the form of their jounin instructor. The silver-haired man opened the door and looked up as if he'd been expecting something to fall on him. He then looked at Naruto with what seemed to be a perplexed look.

Three of the people in the room were confused about something. Two were confused at the man's action when he opened the door and the other one was confused not to find something falling on his head.

'Maybe he's gotten serious about being a ninja and decided to just wait. If it were Obito, I'm sure he'd have put a chalkboard eraser on the door to fall on me. Guess he isn't exactly like Obito.' thought Kakashi.

The jounin stared at Naruto.

'Why is he smiling like that? He looks just like Minato-sensei when he's up to something evil."

Kakashi's answer came in the form of a jet of water that suddenly gushed from under him and hit his nether regions.

"Hah! Gotcha! That'll teach you to be late!" shouted the blonde boy. His eyes seemed to glitter with mischief.

Kakashi stared at the boy. The other boy and girl stared at Kakashi.

"If you wanted to hit me with a water jutsu, you should have at least used one with higher pressure," said the jounin.

Naruto just kept smiling.

Kakashi then turned to the other two. Oddly enough the girl was blushing and the boy was smirking.

"What's wrong?" asked the man.

"Well sensei… You are our sensei right?" asked Sakura still blushing and seemingly doing her best to keep a straight face as Kakashi nodded. "It's just that…"

Some incoherent stuttering ensued.

"It looks like you peed in you pants, sensei," said Sasuke in his usual monotone.

Kakashi looked down. Indeed, his pants did look like he peed in his pants. He then realized what the blonde had been trying to do.

"Oh, good one blondie. I didn't realize that was what you were planning."

Naruto's grin widened.

"Unfortunately, the reason I didn't realize that sooner was because I actually came here looking like this," said the man cheerfully as his single visible eye seemed to make and upside down 'U' shape.

Naruto's grin faltered, Sakura looked appalled and Sasuke looked annoyed. All three had sweatdrops on the back of their heads.

"Meet me on the roof."

--

"Well nice to meet you all. My first impression of you three would be that you seem way too familiar for my taste," said the one-eyed man.

Sakura looked eager to ask the man a question as she had a hand raised and she had a glint of curiosity in her eyes.

"Yes, pink one?"

"First of all, don't call me pink one," said Sakura threateningly. "Secondly, who are you? Thirdly, why are you so late? And finally why were your pants wet when you came in?"

The other two seemed intent on finding that out as well.

"Well I'll try to remember that in the future, pink one," said the man causing a vein to throb on the girl's head. Clearly he didn't mean a word of it. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I am your appointed jounin instructor and as for the reason for the reasons for my lateness and wet pants…"

"THERE YOU ARE!" shouted someone behind the three rookies.

The three kids looked behind and saw a hooded man pointing at them.

"He would be the reason why…" said Kakashi as he got up and turned around. "Follow me."

The silver-haired man leaped towards the building he facing. The hooded man immediately gave chase.

"GIVE ME BACK MY BOOK!" shouted Kakashi's pursuer.

The three confused rookies looked at each other.

"Should we follow them?" asked Sakura.

"Hn."

Being the stoic boy's classmate for three years, both Naruto and Sakura knew he grunted a yes.

--

When the trio caught up with the two men they found themselves watching a battle scene.

Naruto noticed that they were at the training field where he usually trains.

Both men were trading blows with each other on seemingly even ground. Despite the ferocity of the brawl, neither men looked injured and the hooded one's face has ye to be seen.

One glancing look at the trio and a very strong kick from his opponent resulted in Kakashi being kicked so hard that he flew towards the three.

None of them stopped the man from flying into stream behind them.

Kakashi crawled out of the water and looked at the three, "Why didn't any of you even try to catch me?"

"You look fat," said Sakura smiling cheerily. The other two nodded in sync.

Clearly all three already had a grudge against the man.

"Well at least you don't look like you peed in your pants anymore," said Naruto.

"Thanks," said Kakashi who had an annoyed look on his well hidden face.

"By the way I think that guy has his book back," said Sasuke as he pointed to the hooded man who was now reading through an orange book.

Kakashi quickly lifted his forehead protector so that both his eyes could be seen and put on an angry look.

"THAT'S MY BOOK!" roared Kakashi as he dashed towards the man.

Two of the trio of rookies looked at the two men with identical looks of pity. The third one was brooding on the Sharingan eye he'd just seen.

"Hey Sakura, wanna go get something to eat?" asked the blonde.

Sakura seemed to be consider it in her head and said, "Sure, where to?"

"How about Ichiraku's? They're having a special dish for today," said Naruto.

"Okay that sounds nice. You're paying though," said Sakura. Before Naruto could whine about it though, Sakura then said, "Sasuke-kun will be paying for his share though."

"When did I say I'll be coming along?" asked Sasuke.

"We're all going to be part of the same team so might as well spend some time bonding," said Sakura smiling. Sasuke seemed to cringe at the end of the sentence.

"Fine then," said Sasuke. "But never use that word in my presence ever again."

"Team?" said Naruto.

"No," said Sasuke.

"Bonding?" stated Sakura.

Sasuke cringed again.

"Yeah, that word."

"Well then, let's get going!" shouted Naruto.

With that the trio made their way to the Ramen stall.

"WAIT A MINUTE YOU THREE!" came Kakashi's voice.

At least they would have if it weren't for the jounin. Amazingly enough, Kakashi was still fighting ferociously while saying all this. The man's prize was currently flying in the air as both men kept on trying to get hold onto the book.

"HELP ME TAKE THIS GUY DOWN OR I TURN YOU ALL DOWN AS TEAMMATES!"

"WHAT! YOU NINJA'S ARE REALLY SLY BASTARDS, YOU KNOW THAT!" shouted the hooded man as he jumped away from Kakashi and crouched onto the ground. "JUST FOR THAT I"LL USE THIS TO EVEN THE ODDS!"

The hooded man ran his hand through the inside of his brown cloak and pulled out a white sword.

Before any of the Konoha ninja's could take good look at the sword, the man drove it into the ground all the way to the hilt. He then pulled out the sword but its blade was gone and he was holding onto just the hilt.

The Konoha ninja looked confused but Kakashi took control of the situation.

"You three! Help me take this guy down and I will accept you guys as my genin team. Use any means necessary!" ordered Kakashi.

The trio looked at each other.

--

Kakashi was obviously the first one to charge at the hooded man. He was about to enter the man's personal space and deliver a punch to the face but the man didn't move from his spot.

There was a reason for that and that was the large white stone rod that emerged from under Kakashi. The jounin managed to twist his body away just in time to avoid it but another one came up next to the hooded man and dug itself into Kakashi hard enough to lift Kakashi off the ground and into the air.

Unlike the first rod, the second one was still extending itself out of the ground by the time Kakashi was two meters off the ground. Two meters off the ground was exactly the height that Kakashi was at when he gripped onto the rod and kicked off it towards the hooded man.

The hooded man smirked when he saw Kakashi performing hand seals and crossed his arms still gripping onto the sword hilt in his right hand.

'Raiton: Dengeki" thought Kakashi.

Blue bolts of lightning spread out from his left hand towards the hooded man.

They never hit him though as a wall of stone rods came up in front of the hooded man and more of them popped out rushing towards Kakashi as he landed.

The hooded man turned away from Kakashi and shouted, "HEY KIDS AREN'T YOU GOING TO JOIN IN?"

He didn't get a reply as he could no longer see them anywhere.

"Where'd they go?" said the hooded man.

CRACK

The sound of a thousand angry birds filled the air.

The hooded man turned back towards Kakashi only to see him holding what appeared to be the same blue lightning in his right hand rushing towards him.

The hooded man raised his right hand and a wave of stone rods came out of the ground heading towards the ninja.

Kakashi thrust his right arm towards the barrage of stone rods and the chakra in his right hand flared up and pierced the oncoming wave.

The hooded man gave out a low whistle as he saw the jounin break through his attack and said, "Nice!"

Kakashi quickly rushed towards the man hoping to disable him with another Raiton: Dengeki.

"Try breaking through this one!"

The hooded man raised the sword's hilt above his head and several slabs of white stone the size of small children flew out of the ground suspending themselves in the air.

Kakashi cursed as all the slabs flew at him forcing him to switch to a different jutsu.

"Doton: Doryuheki!" shouted Kakashi as a thick and high wall of earth rose up in front of him.

Unfortunately for Kakashi, the wall didn't stop the flying slabs of stone. It was a good thing none of them hit him.

Kakashi quickly jumped over the earthen wall and dashed towards the hooded man, this having a different jutsu in mind.

The man was about to raise his arm again when Kakashi threw a few smoke bombs at the hooded man.

Smoke quickly filled the area blinding both men.

"Damn!" cursed the hooded man.

"Can't find me, can you?" came Kakashi's voice. "But I can find you!"

The hooded man lifted up his right arm unbeknownst to Kakashi and Kakashi let loose a stream of slime towards the hooded man.

SPLASH

"Gah!"

Kakashi waited for the smoke to clear away knowing that the man got hit with the water jutsu he used.

"Give up you shouldn't be able to move with all that goo," said Kakashi as he saw the hooded man's back amongst the smoke.

--

The three children hidden in the trees nearby finally saw Kakashi as soon as a gust of wind blew the smoke away. He had his arms crossed looking expectantly at the large brown cloaked covered in slime.

"Give up?" asked Kakashi.

The three children knew the answer to that one as they stared at their opponent.

"Nope," came the hooded man's voice.

The slime covered cloak suddenly flew at him and crashed into Kakashi knocking and pinning him down to the ground.

Obviously Kakashi was surprised. Not just because he was caught off guard. It was also because the man's voice didn't come from the slime covered cloak but from above it.

The formerly hooded man was standing on top one the white stone slabs he conjured up and he was looking down at Kakashi from the air looking very smug.

Now that he wasn't covered by the cloak, Kakashi could finally see the man's face.

He had short messy brown hair and dark blue eyes. His body frame was slender and his posture boasted absolute confidence. He was wearing a zipped up dark blue and black jacket of some sort and track pants that followed the jacket's color scheme. He looked to be in his early twenties.

"Do you?" asked the man smirking and crossing his arms.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and glared at the man before he began struggling against the stone slab on top of him.

"Didn't think so," said the brown haired man as he raised his right arm.

That was when several shuriken and kunai flew out of the trees to his left and towards him.

"There you are," said the man as he simply twisted his body away from the passing kunai as he looked at the source of the flying weapons.

Sakura and Sasuke jumped out the tree and ran towards Kakashi.

'Wait a minute where's the orange one?' thought the man.

He got his answer when Naruto came out of a cloud of white smoke just behind him and knocked the sword hilt out of his right hand with a hard kick.

The white slabs of stone that were suspending the man above the ground and pinning Kakashi promptly disappeared.

Both Naruto and the man began to fall.

Sasuke ran for where the man was going land, Kakashi followed his lead and Naruto began forming hand seals.

Just as the man reached one and a half meters off the ground both Sasuke and Kakashi jumped and kicked the man higher into the air nearly hitting Naruto with the man.

Strong winds enveloped the blonde boy just before he hit the ground cushioning the landing and Sakura threw several more weapons at the man.

They missed but that didn't matter as the intended purpose was for the exploding tags attached to the weapons to explode just in front of the man propelling him back towards the ninja team.

Kakashi was about to perform the hand seals for the Raiton: Dengeki when Sakura suddenly pulled him down to the ground.

Kakashi was about to inquire upon the girl as to why she just did that when he saw the two young boys beside him perform hand seals.

The man was at the apex of his flight when he heard two shouts.

"Katon: Honoo Dangan!"

"Fuuton: Asaku Kuuki!"

Compressed balls of fire and air exited the boys' mouths and made contact with each other just under the airborne man creating a very powerful explosion.

Light and heat filled his surroundings as Kakashi thought, 'This is going to be hell to explain if that guy dies. Guess I should have warned them against killing him."

--

There didn't appear to be anything left of the man when everything cleared up.

"Great. You incinerated the guy, do you know how much more paperwork I'll have to hand in for this?" said Kakashi tiredly as he looked at the three kids with his single visible eye.

Naruto and Sakura reacted appropriately whilst Sasuke had his back to the jounin.

"Well on the upside, you all pass so we are now officially team seven."

The brighter parts of the team cheered at this whilst Sasuke continued to show his back to the rest.

"Which reminds you still haven't introduced yourselves, so if you may, starting with the dark one over there," said Kakashi cheerily.

"Uchiha Sasuke," said the boy still not turning around.

"How about telling us about your likes, dislikes and dreams as well?"

"Hmph, I don't have any of those," said the boy. Kakashi was bout to insist that he should tell them. "I have ambitions though, to revive my clan and to kill a certain person."

Kakashi mulled over this statement while Sakura gushed over how cool the boy was.

"You next, pink one."

"I told you not to call me that," growled the girl. "I'm Haruno Sakura. I like sweets and Sasuke. I hate Ino-pig and fatty foods. And my dream is to…"

That was when the girl started blushing and murmuring incoherently.

"Okay… And finally then there's you," said Kakashi as he pointed at Naruto.

Naruto blinked in surprise as if he didn't expect Kakashi to say that while pointing at himself.

"My name is Reiji. I like interesting people. I hate boring ones," said a voice behind Kakashi.

They all turned towards the source of the voice and he stood there pointing an intricately designed white and green short sword at them while smirking.

"And right now, my dream is to read that book in Uchiha's hand!" shouted the Reiji as he swung his sword at them.

An invisible force pushed all of them down binding them to the ground. Sasuke dropped the orange book and it made its way next to Sakura.

Two members of team seven recognized the invisible force while only one knew a way to counteract it.

Naruto closed his eyes and chakra began to rotate around his body.

He slowly got up surprising everyone else in the vicinity.

When he rose to his full height, the brown haired man said, "Well that's interesting… What's your name kid?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," said the boy. He didn't stop there. "I like ramen. I hate the three minute wait for it to cook."

Reiji grinned as he saw the boy start to perform hand seals.

"And my dream is to surpass the Hokages!"

Corporeal clones popped into existence around Naruto and rushed at the man.

He swung his sword at them but that didn't affect them at all. All the clones latched onto the man.

"Kage Bunshin Daibakuhatsu!" shouted Naruto.

An incredibly powerful explosion of smoke, heat, sound and wind hit everyone.

--

Kakashi slowly got up and analyzed the situation.

Despite the powerful explosion he was just involved in, he was able to stand up as if nothing had happened.

'That guy's wind binding technique softened the blow for us.'

The pair behind seemed to be fine since they were about to get up off the ground.

Naruto on the other hand didn't have the protection that they had and was now unconscious lying on the ground. Kakashi felt relieved knowing that even he wouldn't be able to get up from something like that.

That relief disappeared as more of the smoke cleared up.

"Naruto, was it?" said the brown haired man.

He didn't look like he got hit by a powerful explosion at point blank range. In fact, he looked like he just came back from a nice massage.

"Wow! He sure is an interesting one. Wonder if you guy's will be able to pull off something like that."

The remaining members of team seven prepared themselves for another attack.

"Well then lets get it on!" shouted Reiji as he pulled out a pair of similarly styled red and blue swords from behind him.

Kakashi brought up his forehead protector and began performing hand seals for Raikiri.

Both men charge towards each other.

"Sakura! Plan B!" shouted Sasuke.

Sakura nodded and pulled a kunai out of her pouch.

Both men had some attention on her after hearing those words.

The pink haired girl brought down the kunai to fatally stab the orange book on the ground right through the center.

Both men halted their advances and looked on in absolute horror.

Crimson liquid oozed out of the damaged region and a squelching noise could be heard.

Both men grew whiter and whiter as they witnessed the destruction of their precious.

--

"So how long have they been like that?" asked Naruto.

"Close to two hours," answered Sakura.

Both Kakashi and Reiji had somehow become stark and were now on their knees in shock, tears streaming from their eyes with mouths agape although Kakashi's mouth was hidden from view.

"…"

"Should we go get something to eat then?" asked Sakura.

"Sure!" shouted Naruto.

Sasuke trailed behind the two as they head for Ichiraku's Ramen stand.

Well that's it for this chapter. The battle didn't turn out to be that great but then again when I wrote that it would in my last chapter, I had my mind on the last battle of this story but that's a long way off. Two of the main characters are finally properly introduced in this chapter so hopefully I'll be able to write future chapters as believably as I can.

There are reasons for the changes you probably noticed and the lack of character interaction but the story for that will be posted a long way down the road.

As for my lateness with this chapter. That can be attributed to the fact that I've been away from my desktop computer for a week on holiday. I actually had most of it done before I left but didn't have enough time to complete it. Nice to see a few of the stories I usually read get updated though.

And does anyone else agree with me that Naruto's mom doesn't look like she fits how Tsunade described her. I mean even though she's pregnant in the latest chapter, it still doesn't look like she's the kind of person to take lots of hits and throws back heavy damage. Well that doesn't really affect my story very much so I won't bother to change my details of her in the story.

It was funny how Jiraiya was the one who gave Naruto's name but annoying at how he didn't say which one of his students is actually pain.

Shiroi Kemuri no Jutsu – White Smoke Technique

Fuuton: Gatai Kuuki – Wind Release: Hardened Air

Fuuton: Asaku Kuuki – Wind Release: Compressed Air

Raiton: Dengeki – Thunder Release: Electric Shock

Katon: Honoo Dangan – Fire Release: Flame Bullet

Doton: Doryuheki – Earth Release: Earthen Dragon Wall

Anyway enjoy the Kakashi side story.

11th May 2008 EDIT

Decided to rework the chapters so that the wording is more fluid and some events a bit more realistic. Overall there are no major changes to the story, just minute detail to tie in story events better with everything.

I've made a small change here that I forgot to include in the chapter when I first put it up it. It's at the part Naruto uses Kage Bunshin for the first time in the story.

KAKASHI AND THE BOOK

He'd been waiting in line for close to two hours now and soon he'll get his hands on the Limited Konoha Edition of Icha Icha paradise.

What set this edition apart from the rest? Extended scenes, bonus chapters, no censorship whatsoever, pictures and a pack of rare earth country mud snake blood that was known to be more potent than the best viagras. It cost a bundle as mud snakes are an endangered species and that only a hundred and eight copies are printed.

'Soon. Soon you will be all mine…'

Kakashi was chuckling insanely as he thought that.

Normally this would be very creepy to bystanders but he wasn't the only one that was chuckling that way. In fact everyone else in line was doing it, even the little kid who came with his dad. It should be mentioned though that the little boy was only chuckling because he thought that it was a game.

Kakashi was next to make a purchase after the hooded man. Unfortunately he was too late.

"Sorry everyone, sold out," said the store clerk.

Men and women alike started to rant at the unfortunate man.

Kakashi knew better than that. Rather than complain about the books being sold out, he'd go and steal it from the guy who just bought the last one.

Kakashi swiftly followed the hooded man out the door and knocked him down while snatching the book from him.

"GIVE ME BACK MY PRECIOUS!" shouted the hooded man as he took out a shiny blue sword and pointed at Kakashi.

From the manholes, geysers shot up.

Water pipes burst and storage tanks shook.

The hooded man chased after his precious.

And Kakashi ran away with the book.


	7. Missions

I don't own Naruto but I do own the ability to throw cards lethally

I don't own Naruto but I do own the ability to throw cards lethally.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

CHAPTER 6: MISSIONS

"Kakashi-sensei, why is this counted as a mission?" asked Naruto.

"Because we're being paid to do this," answered the seemingly one-eyed man.

They were gathering Hikamo mushrooms in the woods just outside the village. Sakura and Sasuke were looking for them in another section of the forest.

"How much longer till we get real missions?" asked the boy.

"If we're lucky, a month from now," said the man.

Naruto started grumbling as bent over to pick up a particularly big mushroom to his left. He plucked it off the ground and threw it into the basket that was strapped to his back.

Kakashi sighed as he did pretty much the same thing.

'Another month of this… Hopefully it won't really take that long,' thought the jounin. 'This is the third mission for their debut, I was actually expecting one of them to explode by now.'

They continued to pluck mushrooms off the ground. At this rate they'd be able to get at least another two missions before the end of the day.

'Their teamwork's surprisingly good. Didn't even have to spell it out for them."

Naruto struggled to pull out a big one out of the ground but it seems as though it didn't want to leave its spot.

'Sakura's got second highest in her class and is can perform the basic academy techniques perfectly but other than that she doesn't have much going for her,' thought Kakashi as he sighed once more. 'Sasuke got rookie of the year and probably has other Katon jutsus up his sleeves since he could do Honoo Dangan. He's a little unstable though, got to do something about that."

Naruto took out a kunai out of his pouch deciding to cut the fungi at its stem. Kakashi just watched as tried to cut through it. Didn't seem to be working though.

'Then there's Naruto. He got scores near the bottom but that was because of his written work. He's loud like his mom but he's focused like sensei. He can do both water and wind jutsus from what I saw. He could also stand up to that guy's technique, but the only way to neutralize wind jutsus would be with fire or wind jutsus. He did it with only his chakra…'

Kakashi had stopped plucking mushrooms to watch Naruto bring up a few clones to help him pulled at the thing. The mushroom must be incredibly hard to damage metal like that.

'Could it be that he can manipulate his chakra's nature? But how do I test that theory out?'

The clones poofed out existence realizing the futility of their actions.

Kakashi got an idea.

"Why don't you use your wind chakra to cut it? That might work," said Kakashi.

Naruto looked up at the man and then at his right hand. He grabbed onto the mushroom and closed his eyes.

Kakashi could feel the chakra pouring out of Naruto's hand and saw that cuts were forming on the mushroom. Little by little, the gap increased until the mushroom's stem was separated into two.

"It worked! Thanks Kakashi sensei!" said the boy as he put the mushroom in the basket.

'Just as I thought, he can do it.'

"Naruto," said the silver haired man. Naruto looked at him. "Where did you learn to do that?"

"Huh? From a friend," answered Naruto. "But I haven't seen him since he took off for his long-term mission."

'Long-term mission? So his friend is a special jounin?' pondered Kakashi. 'Who on earth taught him how to change his chakra's nature? Judging from how he can use it, he's been training it for quite some time. Better ask him who's this friend of his is.'

Before Kakashi could say a word though, someone else said something first.

"There you are, you one-eyed freak!"

That hadn't come from either of the two on the ground. Instead it had come from the hooded man riding on a stone slab in the air.

'Damn! This guy again,' thought Kakashi. "Wait a second… did you just call me a one-eyed freak?"

"Yeah! Now give me back my book!" shouted the man.

The moment that Reiji had said that, both he and Kakashi felt similar sentiments regarding the book's 'death'. Reiji simply let the wave of horror and dread pass with cold shudders. Kakashi was having a harder time repressing the memories.

"Hey, it's you again! Come here for another fight?" shouted Naruto whilst pointing at the man. "What was it again… Reien? No that wasn't it… Reigi! That was it, Reigi right?"

"Wrong!" said the man as he crossed his arms to make an X. "I am neither a cemetery nor am I polite. It's Reiji, you little brat! As in midnight!"

To emphasize the meaning, the hooded man took a bell out of his cloak and rang it twelve times.

"Geez! I thought you people would at least be able to remember a name like that but it looks like I was wrong!" said the frustrated man as he pointed at the pair. "Come on! You must have heard my name being spoken in hushed whispers!"

"Well I wouldn't be able to hear them anyway if that was actually true," said Naruto. "Kakashi-sensei, you don't look like you recognize his name so that must mean that he's not famous at all."

Kakashi who had been replaying the scene of blood oozing out of the orange book over and over in his head as if someone had put him through 72 hours of torture in less than an instant.

"Huh, wha-…" said the man dumbly. He would have continued to look dumb if it wasn't for his ninja honed senses. "Hmmm. Well actually Naruto, I think I heard of the name somewhere but as far as I know, it wasn't listed down on the bingo book."

"Bingo book?" said Naruto.

"It's a book filled with the profiles of ninjas who are to be hunted down for betraying their villages. Every village has one but the lists and policies regarding the classification of those criminals are dependent on the villages. However, Konoha is known for including all the missing-nin in their bingo books and is commonly used by the smaller ninja villages."

That interesting bit of information had come from the adult who did not have anything to hide his mouth with.

"And for the record, even though I'm not on that list, I am one of the most powerful men to have ever walked on these lands!" said the man passionately.

Student and teacher looked at each other thinking the same thing.

"Liar," they even said the same thing.

"WHAT!" shouted the hooded man. "Why the hell would you think that! I really am that strong! Heck! If I wanted to, I could've killed any of you at any time yesterday! None of you could even put a scratch on me, although you did ruin one of my favorite cloaks…"

Kakashi knew that despite the man's outrageous claim, he wasn't lying about having been able to kill him.

'He's right about that though. He could've killed anyone one of us but he didn't have a reason to. He had those strange swords too. He must have somehow sealed ninjutsu into them to have been able to do all that. To use all those attacks like that means that he either has colossal chakra reserves or he didn't need to use much for those jutsus. But even with that he's still not strong enough to Hokage-sama,' thought Kakashi.

"Aw come on! You must have heard of me! I am the legendary information trader, Reiji of the Jukuchi Sesou! There's no way you could have not heard of me!"

Evidently Naruto didn't but Kakashi did.

"You?" said the Kakashi with finger pointing accusingly and a tone to match it. "You're THAT Reiji?! There's no way you could be him!"

"Huh?" said Naruto, surprised.

"And why not?" asked Reiji's voice of annoyance.

"Well for one thing, he's nocturnal."

"Nocturnal?" said Reiji disbelievingly. "Where the hell did you get that notion from?"

"ANBU intelligence. Secondly, he's been in business since before I was born. There's no way you could be him since you definitely look younger than I do," answered Kakashi

"ANBU intelligence? You better replace them soon if they told you that," said Reiji. "And about my looks, don't you think as the number one information trader I wouldn't have come by an age-decreasing potion or something like that by now? Not that I actually need it."

"That 'something' makes you sound like even more unconvincing,"

"Geh! Then I'll prove it to you."

The hooded man pulled out from behind him a long sinister looking pitch-black broadsword that was about a foot taller than Naruto and as wide as his leg. Even its handguard looked sinister.

Reiji closed his eyes and knitted his eyebrows together as if deep in thought.

"Lets see… Hatake Kakashi… Owner of a Sharingan that he wasn't born with, given to him by his friend, son of the White Fang, student of the fourth Hokage, subscriber to the Icha-Icha monthly fan magazine and creator of the technique Chidori or rather Raikiri, which you tried to use on me yesterday."

"Anyone can get that info from the bingo book," said Kakashi. He then thought over it. "Well… maybe not my subscription to the magazine…"

"Fine then… The Sannin… Jiraiya runs an international perverts network extending from here to the snow country… Orochimaru has a complete set of the legendary Seven Secrets of Erotic Heaven series at his base… And Tsunade's measurements are B:121, W:62 and H: 94!"

"There's no way you can prove that…"

Reiji adorned an angry scowl obviously frustrated with Kakashi and his pride was being stoked.

"Man you are hard to convince, I have no other choice but to do this!"

Reiji pointed swung his sword and pointed it at Naruto alarming the blonde and Kakashi as well.

"Uzumaki Naruto, first name coincides with a character from one of Jiraiya's earlier novels and using his mother's family name instead of his father's. Son of the fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato and the only survivor of whirlpool country's royal family, Uzumaki Kushina."

Both Kakashi and Naruto were shocked to hear that.

'Fourth Hokage? Royal family? My parents?'

'How did he!'

"Parents never married and born on October 10th twelve years ago. The same day that the nine-tailed fox attacked and was sealed into him making him the jinchuuriki of the most powerful Biju."

The pair on the ground were silent.

"Believe me, now? Three S-class secrets hidden in this village that no outsider should know. I bet even you, copycat, didn't know about his formerly royal heritage."

"How…" started Kakashi slowly but continued cautiously. "Only a handful of people know about that and none of them would ever divulge that knowledge… Sensei's relationship with her and Naruto's condition are hushed but still easy enough to explain… But for you to know about should be impossible."

"I told you didn't I? I'm Reiji, the leader of Jukuchi Sesou. There is nothing I can't find out," said the man as he tucked his sword back into his cloak.

Kakashi glared at the man now realizing how dangerous this person was.

"Don't worry though, I didn't come to cause trouble here. I only came for my book, which by the way you WILL replace."

Kakashi suddenly felt disbelief at how the man had just shown himself to be a dangerous individual and yet expect him to believe that he only came for a book.

"Wait a second here!"

That had come from Naruto. He had an angry look on his face.

"Kakashi-sensei, is everything he said true! Is what he said about my parents true?"

Kakashi didn't answer at first thinking it over.

"Yes, it's true. Everything he said was true," said Kakashi. 'Though I still think that his info on the sannin is still doubtful."

"Seeing that you're more concerned about your heritage rather than being a jinchuuriki, that means you were told about the Kyuubi but not your parents," speculated Reiji. "Or rather that judging from your reaction to their importance, you probably were told lies about your parents."

Naruto looked even angrier at this.

Kakashi couldn't say anything to deny it.

"Kid, let me ask you this," said the hooded man. "Have you met him yet?"

"Met who?" replied Naruto.

"The Kyuubi."

Kakashi was surprised to hear that but knowing that bit of information was important.

"Huh? Yeah, but why would you want to know that?" asked the blonde in an irritated tone.

"Seems like you have," said Reiji. Naruto's eyes narrowed at the man. "Well then, I'd like you to tell him something for me."

"What'?"

Both Naruto and Kakashi said this at the same.

"What's that?" asked Naruto.

"Well I'm not telling him," said the hooded man as he pointed to Kakashi.

"And why is that?" asked Kakashi.

"Because, if I told you, you wouldn't live long enough to say goodbye to your village."

A tense atmosphere settled in around them. The ninjas knew by now that the guy was dangerous. He wasn't a threat to them just yet but he was still dangerous.

"Anyways… the silver mophead over there is coming with me," said Reiji.

"What if I don't want to?" asked Kakashi cautiously.

Reiji smirked.

"That wasn't a request."

Immediately after saying that, Reiji disappeared from view and both Kakashi and Naruto both brought up their guard.

Both ninjas jumped away from their positions to different trees but before Kakashi could reach his destination he lost consciousness.

Naruto stared in awe at the reason for that as he watched his team captain and the tree next to him get encased in a block of what appeared to be blue ice.

"Don't worry, I just froze him. He's not hurt just cold."

Naruto brought up a kunai in front of him to deflect any oncoming attacks as he stared at the hooded man.

"Relax, I just need him for something. Not anything life-threatening though," explained Reiji.

Naruto continued to be wary of the man.

Reiji sighed.

"Fine. Don't believe me," said Reiji. "But I still want you to send a message to the fox for me."

Naruto was silent at first thinking it over.

"What do you want him to know?"

"Tell him that if he doesn't hurry, he won't be able to see them."

Naruto could only question this in his mind as Reiji quickly followed up with.

"I'm going back into the village, if you want to end this mission of yours now, call over your friends."

--

"And so that's the story Hokage-sama," said Kakashi.

Everyone in the room looked up to him while he looked down at them. Not because of a conflict of personalities but because he was still mostly frozen in a block of ice. At least up to his neck.

"Okay Kakashi, but you still haven't explained why is it you're still frozen like that," asked the Third.

"Oh, I can explain that," said Reiji as he raised his hand. "He's the guy I want to hire for my request."

"Oh, alright. Well then Reiji-san, good luck on finding them. He's the best man for the job," said the old man.

Bystanders watched as a Reiji pointing at Kakashi with his sword motioning the giant ice block to slide out the door.

"Okay… Well then team seven you can have the rest of the day off seeing as your team captain is assigned on another mission," said the standard everyday chuunin next to the Hokage.

Sakura was the first to react to that.

"What do you want to do now Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura exuberantly while holding up her hands to her chin in a girly manner.

Sasuke only walked out the main door silently while Sakura trailed behind asking more questions.

"Is there something you want, Naruto?" asked the only Sarutobi in the room.

Naruto glared angrily at the Hokage.

"Yeah, I want you to tell me the REAL truth about my family."

The third looked at the boy silently while his assistant shouted at Naruto for being impudent.

"Very well," said the old man standing up as the chuunin beside him looked at him in surprise. "Come with me to my office."

--

"What do you want to know?" asked the Third.

"Everything. I want to know about my dad being the fourth. About my mom being royalty. And everything you know about the fox," said Naruto.

"I see… Did Kakashi tell you about them?"

"No. It was that weird hooded guy, Reimi."

The Hokage looked shocked for a brief instant.

"You mean the man who took Kakashi with him?" asked the old man who was surprised to hear that. It was obvious as he did not point out the man's actual name.

"Yeah, him. He even knows about Kyuubi. Heck he probably even knows the fox."

The Hokage put on a worried look.

"Forget about that first. Tell me about my parents."

The old man summed his thoughts first before answering the boy.

"Your parents are as I told you, ninjas. Powerful ones at that. Your father grew up as an orphan but we do not have any knowledge on who his parents were. He was found as a baby during the war at that time and was brought here. He trained hard under one of my students and eventually took my place for a few days. Obviously I don't have to tell you the stories of his achievements. I couldn't really tell you about him until you were ready for it."

"I guess I can understand why."

The old man took in a breath

"Your mother on the other hand came from whirlpool country which no longer exists. Her family was the royal family of the country. She was youngest in her family. She was also the only one in her family who survived. She was brought here when she was 7 or 8 years old and she asked to be trained as a ninja as soon as she came. Your parents never married because things were really hectic around here at the time. That's why your family name is officially Uzumaki."

"What happened to the whirlpool country?"

The Hokage frowned.

"Honestly we don't know. Your mother and her charges wouldn't tell us what happened and not long after she came, it was annexed by Rain country. All they would tell us was that Kushina needed to be strong enough to get her revenge."

"Revenge? Did she ever get it."

"No. After her guardians died, she decided that it was best she forget about her vengeance. It was around then that she and your father met."

Naruto thought that over a bit.

"Can I get my inheritance yet?"

The Hokage frowned again.

"No, your mother said that it was important that you open it when you reach the age of 15."

"Why?"

"It has something to do with your family's secrets. I can't even open the scrolls she left behind."

"Secrets? Scrolls?"

"Apparently she stipulated that the scrolls would only matter if you got her genes. So I'm willing to say that your mother probably wanted to pass on information on a possible bloodline limit she had."

"Bloodline limit? You mean like the Hyuuga's?"

"Probably. I'm not certain about what it entails but my students should know something about it since they were closer to her than I was. They're not here right now though."

"Damn. Can you tell me about the fox now?"

The Hokage drew in a breath.

"As you know, your father sealed it into you to save the village. I would have done it in his place if he had gone to me before deciding to handle it on his own but he was always a person of principles. We still have no idea why it attacked us though. It's the most powerful of the nine biju. From the Dr. Itoshiki's analysis of your body, it seems that you have a much faster rate of natural healing than even medical ninjas. You also seem to suppress the effects of drugs injected into you. Your immunity system also seems to be set up to protect your body from many diseases, even the ones that you couldn't possibly contract. That's all I can really tell you right now."

Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"What do you mean right now?"

"Even as we speak a group set up to find as much information as possible on the biju are working. I haven't gone to see them lately but they haven't alerted me for any important info either. In fact, that man Reiji works with them on occasion to find out more information. Come to think of it, why did you say that he knew it?"

"He said to tell the fox that if it didn't hurry, it'd disappear."

The Hokage looked baffled.

"Hurry? If you die, then it will die too but I doubt that it's capable of breaking the seal because-"

"Hokage-sama! An urgent message has arrived!" came a voice.

Naruto and the old man looked at the ANBU who'd just arrived at the Hokage's window sill.

"I'm sorry Naruto but it looks we'll have to continue this another time."

When the Hokage looked back at Naruto, he was already halfway out the door.

--

Days later

Team seven walked through the doors wearing annoyed expressions over their last mission. It wasn't as much fun as it was troublesome.

"Ahh, team seven. Good timing," said Iruka was sitting beside the Hokage.

Naruto twitched at the sight of Iruka still remembering the horrific events that happened a week ago. He briefly wondered whether or no they had managed to pull out the sword yet. This sword was the Hagasu Dokuga that ANBU had stolen. The Mist were severely lacking the swords to make up seven.

'I will never make bunshins with that jutsu ever again.'

It was odd to see Naruto shiver for no reason.

Well maybe not for Iruka, he was there at the time after all.

"Team seven, meet your client for your first C-rank mission, Tazuna-san" said the Hokage as a dirty looking old man came through the client door.

Well that's it for this chapter. Been really busy lately plus I didn't really have much motivation to write, hence the reason for me putting off this chapter. Sorry if it disappoints but there are a few key points in this chapter important to the story. Guess I'm not really suited to writing adventure stories since I usually write humor, horror or mystery stories. Passion really is a key to writing a good story but I've never been a passionate person so forgive me if at times my wordings sound strange or just outright lazy.

Jukuchi Sesou – World's Chroniclers

Now for the side-story that will explain a previous point in the story. I'm sure you will enjoy it. After all, I had a lot of fun writing it.

IRUKA AND THE THINGS

Iruka glared at the seemingly human yet unmoving objects on the floor. He's been trying to move them out of the academy but every time he tried to move them, he'd only manage a foot or two. For some odd reason whenever he tried to lift them of the ground, they'd suddenly gain an unreasonable amount of weight and it'd be near impossible to move them around.

He's tried dispelling them but evidently it was a ninjutsu. He tried destroying them taking care to avoid damaging academy property but they only turned out looking more inhuman. No. That doesn't really describe it well enough. Un-human. That seemed like a better word.

It really was frustrating to fail at moving the damn things. It was ridiculous that they were practically indestructible. It was even more annoying when the source of these things wasn't able to do anything about them.

All those feelings plied up together and resulted in the chuunin's current attempt to sever parts of the things one by one so he move them limb by limb. He was using a very sharp and very intimidating sword that he borrowed from the ANBU. His crazed swings at the things and his manic and terrifying expressions were scaring the hell out of the boy and ANBU in the room.

SPLACK

That odd sound was the result at the first successful attempt at thrusting the giant sword into the thing's shoulders. Blackened blood has spurted out of the thing's shoulder and sprayed itself onto the boy's face and the ANBU's clothes.

The skies outside were dark and so was the classroom. The wind was howling as if they were the moans of the forgotten souls still trapped and bound to the living world. It sounded as if these spirits were crying out in pain at Iruka's actions.

With the chuunin grinning fiendishly at the seemingly mangled corpse at his feet and his hands gripping tightly onto the great sword's handle, Iruka seemed like a madman. Both of the other occupants stared at him in wide-eyed horror as the man growled trying to pull the large piece of metal out of the body.

Iruka put his ferociously foot on the thing's head and struggled to bring up the blade. He gnashed his teeth, saliva spraying out of his mouth and horrifying sounds came out of his mouth. The body on the ground seemed to dance on the floor like a dead fish in accordance with Iruka's terrifying display.

Blackened blood oozed out of the body. Slowly, more and more of the thing's blood came out. So much that, a large pool of it had formed. The floor seemed to be covered in the substance. Naruto and the ANBU hugged each other tightly and both cowered in fear near the highest window.

Iruka's actions became more pronounced as his voice became louder, louder and louder still. The ferocity in the room had more than tripled. Worse still, blackened blood had finally covered the entire floor and splashing sounds rang out to together with the ever more frequent howls of the winds and the darkened words of the man.

The room was getting darker and darker with each second but the other two could not appreciate not being able to see. They could still hear the terrifying melody within the walls. It was terrifying to not being able to see. It was absolutely horrifying to have to hear that combination of sounds that made up the terrible ballad of terror.

An hour had passed and so had the ANBU already. Passed out that is.

Naruto could only think that it was all his fault. It was his own jutsu that was responsible for this horrible scene.

The only human-like object that was not affected by the scene was the thing's twin which was smiling eerily at the events before it.


	8. Demons From The Mist

I don't own Naruto but I'd love to meet a girl who can combo kick someone in the air.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

CHAPTER 7: DEMONS FROM THE MIST

* * *

"You're coming with us?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah, but I'm only tagging along halfway. I got some business to take care of near that area," answered Reiji. "You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

That question was directed at Kakashi who looked as if someone had asked him to commit suicide. No answer at first but after seeing that glint from Reiji's eye and that strange gesture he did with both hands, he quickly nodded.

"There you go. He says its okay then it should be okay with the rest of you," said the hooded man.

Everyone else stared at Kakashi who had broken out in a cold sweat. He looked as if he had a brush with death.

Both Tazuna and Naruto wondered what caused this reaction.

Sasuke and Sakura knew why though. But they couldn't really understand why Kakashi went along with it.

"Hey, Kakashi-san! Are you okay?" asked Tazuna as he waved his hand in front of the Jounin's face.

"Yeah… Let's just go," answered Kakashi as he tried to pull himself together.

---------

"So what are you up to? Is it something like rescuing a princess? Guarding a daimyo? Sneaking into a secret enemy base?" asked Naruto.

"Nope. My organization only trades information. We don't do anything risky like that. We leave that for you people like you, Makito," answered Reiji.

"Makito? What's that?" asked the blonde.

"Huh? Isn't that your name?" inquired the hooded man.

"No, it's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto," said the boy.

"Ah? Really? You look like a Makito to me. Plus… your name is kinda hard to memorize," said Reiji.

"What do you mean hard to memorize? It's only three syllables. Even Konohamaru got it right the first time," retorted the blonde.

"You don't really have the right to say that. You've been getting my name wrong too," replied Reiji.

"What's that got to do with remembering my name? Say it with me Reiki, Na-Ru-To," spelled out the boy.

"See! Right there! You said Reiki instead of Reiji!" pointed out Reiji.

"No you must have misheard me. I definitely said Reido!" defended Naruto.

"That's even farther off than just now!"

Sakura was getting a little annoyed with the pair in front of her and decided to distract herself with her own conversation.

"Tazuna-san, where is your country anyway?" asked Sakura as she brought out a map.

Tazuna looked at the girl and her map. He pointed to specific part of the map.

"Right here. It's not too far from your village but it took me 5 days to get there."

Sakura looked at the map.

"But judging from this, it looks like we'll have to take a boat ride," said Sakura.

"Well you won't need to once I finish my SUPER-bridge," said the old man.

"Don't worry Sakura. I already got the route all planned out," stated Kakashi.

While they were walking, Kakashi had regained his composure. He finally got his mind of the threat to his treasures. It could be attributed to Sasuke's strangely calming yet silent presence by his side negating Reiji's presence behind.

SPLOOK

Kakashi and the others looked back at Naruto who had just stepped in a puddle of water hence making that noise.

Kakashi already knew what was in the puddle while Sasuke realized that something was wrong. The others didn't seem to notice it as they were pestering Naruto for stepping in it.

Suddenly, two figures leaped out of the puddle of water towards Kakashi. A chain linked both man by the metal devices on their arms.

Kakashi found himself bound by that chain in less than a second and everyone else saw him get ripped to shreds in the same amount of time.

Reiji and Tazuna just watched along with Naruto and Sakura. Tazuna started looking for cover while Reiji did nothing to protect himself choosing to be a spectator. Sasuke quickly leapt into action pinning the chain between the two assailants to a tree.

The chain seemed to snap as both assailants ran off in two different directions. One went off to fight Sasuke while the other dashed towards their target.

Sakura with kunai quickly went into a guarding position as this happened and Naruto pulled out several kunai and shuriken and threw them at the enemy.

The missing-nin quickly brought up his right hand which was encased in some metallic object and made to deflect the oncoming weapons.

He would've succeeded in doing so if he wasn't distracted by the screams of his brother who was set on fire by Sasuke.

The device on his arm managed to deflect 3 of the throwing weapons but a kunai and a shuriken embedded themselves in his abdomen and his left forearm respectively.

The former mist-nin grunted in pain and made to pull out the kunai in his abdomen.

He didn't get to that because two Narutos suddenly grabbed hold of his arms while a third kicked the kunai plunging it further into the ninja's gut.

Blood seeped through the man's face mask and through his shirt. Intense pain filled him as all three blondes threw equally hard punches towards his head knocking the man out cold.

Making sure that the ninja was really out cold, Naruto's brain went a mile a minute thinking of what to do in this situation. He turned towards Sakura who's looking around for any further attackers.

"Sakura, what do we do?! Kakashi-sensei's dead!" shouted the boy.

"I don't know!" shouted the girl. "What can't continue the mission like this! We'll have to go back!"

"What?! This is our first real mission! We can't give up now! If we do we won't get another one for a long time!" said the blonde.

"Tch!" said Sasuke. Everyone looked at him. "Naruto, she's right. As much as I hate to admit, we can't do this on our own. We may even lose our lives if we continue this mission."

Naruto didn't want to admit it.

"But doesn't the mission come first?" said the boy. "Besides Raikou could come with us."

"Maybe… but don't you think that your friends are more important than your duty, Naruto?"

That voice had come from behind Naruto.

Everyone shifted their eyes to the source of the voice and were startled to see Kakashi still alive. Well everyone except Reiji. He was smirking.

"Well… that was fun. Should we get a move on?" asked Reiji.

"Kakashi-sensei!" shouted Sakura and Naruto simultaneously. Sasuke chose not to join them in their surprise and decided to say, "Was that a Kawarimi?"

"Hey! What was that?! Do you ninjas know how to come back from the dead?!" shouted Tazuna. "Don't do things that could give me have a heart-attack!"

"No, Tazuna-san. We can't bring the dead back to life but we do now how to trick other ninjas," said Kakashi. "As for you, Reiji-san. Why didn't you help these kids?"

The hooded man smiled.

"Konoha losing a ninja or two has nothing to do with me. If they died, it means that your leader has gone senile," said the man. "Besides if they got into trouble, you would have leapt into action. It'll take more than that to get useful data on me you know."

Kakashi stared at Reiji while the teenagers considered the reality of that statement.

"Seeing as you guys have to take care of things here, I should probably go on ahead since I have an date to keep. I'll see you guys there after I'm done," said the man as he walked away from them.

"What does he mean by that Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura.

Kakashi looked a Sakura and said, "We have to send these two back to the village for interrogation and medical care. Although… judging from charcoal over there, he won't be talking much."

"But what about the job I paid you for?" asked the old man.

"Don't worry Tazuna-san. We'll just send these guys to the village first then we'll continue with the mission," said Kakashi. "You can wait here with my team if you'd like."

"… Fine," said the old bridge builder.

"Naruto, please make a couple of kage bunshin to carry the burnt over there. I can't really carry them all by myself," said the jounin.

"Okay…"

---------

"Now then, Naruto. I'd like to ask you a question," said Kakashi.

The two Naruto clones turned their heads towards the older man who was carrying the still unconscious missing-nin.

"Huh? What is it?" asked both Narutos together.

'Woah, stereo. Creepy,' thought Kakashi. "Why did you want to continue with the mission? You know Sasuke was right about the danger."

"Well, it's just like I said earlier. The mission comes first. Besides I can recover from almost anything," said both clones confidently.

"Where did you get that idea? You may have that 'burden' in you but you're still human."

"Didn't the old man tell you? Well he just told me a few days ago but I thought he'd tell you that before he put me on this team. He said that I heal faster than most people. I even checked to make sure. Want me to show you?" said both as one pulled a kunai out of his pouch.

"That won't be necessary. Besides, you are both clones so you'll just disappear as soon as that sinks in," pointed out Kakashi. "But what do you mean you checked?"

"Well when I got home after he told me, I was still angry at him so I punched my mirror and it broke. I got a few small cuts on my hand but after I licked off the blood, the cuts were gone."

Kakashi was a little surprised to hear that. That was fast. Even most medical jutsus don't work that quickly.

"When I was small, I was always the first to recover from sparring matches. The other kids said that they wished that could bounce back as fast as I could but even then I never healed that fast. It was like my body wanted to do it was faster after I knew that I could do it."

Kakashi's surprise was piling up.

"After that I tried making more cuts. Every time I cut myself, they healed up faster. I even accidentally cut one of my wrists too deep and a lot of blood came out but it didn't even take a minute to heal up. It hurt though."

Kakashi was still being surprised. But this time he also got worried. The creepy double voices didn't help.

"I tried hurting myself using one of my kunai. Arm, leg. stomach. Anywhere I thought I could heal, I'd make a hole there and it'd heal. I even tried breaking my arm and it healed. It took nearly an hour to heal and it hurt like hell though. I actually tri-"

"That's enough," said Kakashi in a commanding voice. It startled both clones. "I get the picture. You not still doing that are you?"

"Well of course not. It hurt a lot. Even if I probably could come back from the dead, I wouldn't want to feel that kind of pain."

"I see what you mean about that but what if someone died on that mission?"

"Weren't you listening? I can recover from almost anything. I could probably come back to life. Even if the fox puts me on the top of everyone's most hated list, living forever would let me become more powerful than even my dad."

"I wasn't talking about your own life I was talking about your friends, Sasuke and Sakura."

The clones looked surprised.

"Well, I guess I could just wait for a new team," said the clone holding the missing-nin by the leg. "I mean I can always get new friends, can't I?"

It shocked Kakashi to hear that. He was now really worried about Naruto. He was considering what to say to him when he heard Naruto's voice again.

"I wouldn't want someone to die because of me. I won't let them get hurt just because of the mission."

This time it came from the clone at the other end and he looked angry. Once again, Kakashi was surprised.

"But the mission comes first. I want to be the best even if it means I have to lose someone," said the other clone.

"You can't mean that! They're important to us! The old man also said that we'd need friends to beat the other hokages!" shouted front one.

"You know I can! You're me! You also know that it might be the opposite someday!" shouted back the one in the rear.

"…"

The other clone stayed silent.

"We don't need friends to become strong…"

It was getting harder for Kakashi to see Naruto growing up to be like his father. He had to say something. He was about to but then he heard Naruto's voice again.

"But if we didn't have friends, what would be the point?" asked the clone in the front.

"Huh? What?" said the clone at the rear.

"You should be able to remember. Why did we want power for in the first place?"

"… to protect them. To protect Daikyou-niichan. To protect Anko-neechan. To protect our friends."

"And now it's not just them. We have more friends now."

Both clones smiled at that.

Kakashi was currently at loss for words as the pair beside him had just figured out what he was trying to tell them.

Both clones then turned their heads towards Kakashi.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei! I get it now!" shouted both clones in harmony while grinning.

Kakashi stumbled a bit when they said that. The conversation that just took place could be described as scary and hearing people saying the same things at the same wasn't exactly good for the heart. Forget horror movies or enemy ninja. For Kakashi this experience was one of the most nerve wracking things he'd been through.

"You okay Kakashi-sensei?" asked both clones in stereo.

"I'm okay. It's just that I suddenly realized that I really am getting older," said the jounin."

Both clones looked puzzled.

"Well in any case Naruto, glad to see that you understand how important your friends are," said Kakashi. "In fact there's a saying that a friend of mine once told me that fits it perfectly."

"What's that?"

"A ninja who breaks the rules is trash," said the man. He was smiling underneath that mask of his.

Both clones were puzzled at this contradictory statement. It cleared up though.

"But a ninja who abandons his friends is even worse trash."

---------

It was now nighttime and the party of people were now setting up camp near the borders of fire country.

Naruto was talking to Kakashi. He's been wondering about something since he came back.

"But it's weird. I know I was with the old man at the time but now I'm not sure whether I was there with him or with you," said Naruto.

"Well Naruto, that's a side effect of the Kage Bunshin. You'll remember everything the clone went through even if you weren't there yourself," said Kakashi.

"But it's so confusing!" said Naruto as he ruffled his hair. "Are there any other side effects of this jutsu?"

Kakashi thought about for a moment.

"None that I can recall but I suggest you don't make too many at the same time or cancel them all at the same time. Kage bunshin splits up your chakra evenly between you and your clones and remembering too much at one time can tire out your brain. That's why it's a kinjutsu."

"What?!" shouted Naruto. Kakashi noted that he looked shocked. "So that means I have less chakra for each clone that I make?! Doesn't this mean that I'll get stupider every time I use the jutsu?!"

The other three who were focused on making dinner watched Naruto hold his head as he jumped around. It was strangely entertaining.

"Calm down Naruto. When I said that it'll tire out your brain, I didn't mean you'll get stupider from using the jutsu," clarified Kakashi. "Although, if you didn't realize that your chakra kept diminishing when you used, then you might be right about that."

"GAH!"

Kakashi was only partially joking when he said that. Another reason for Naruto not realizing it would be that he has a lot of chakra. He chose not to mention that as it was entertaining to watch Naruto act like this. But he had other things he needed to discuss with the bridge builder.

"Tazuna-san," called out Kakashi.

"Yes?" responded the old man.

"About the enemy ninja earlier…"

It was important that everyone knew exactly how dangerous this mission was.

---------

"Brrr… It's chilly here," said Sakura. Naruto nodded with her. He was shivering.

The other three paid no mind to the temperature and focused on finding their way through the mist. It seemed to be getting thicker.

"Man… I haven't felt this cold in a long time…" said Naruto.

"Long time? But the village is always warm. Even at night. So how can you say that you've been in a place this cold before?" asked Sakura.

"Well, it's strange," started Naruto. His tone had a somewhat nostalgic tone to it. "Every time Anko-neechan hunted me down in the past I'd always feel this sudden feeling of coldness whenever she tried to shoot her kunai at me. She always somehow made feel really cold even though it was a really hot day."

"Eeeh! You have a sister? I didn't know that. Introduce her to me sometime," said Sakura. "Or rather, do I really want to meet someone who throws weapons at their family members."

Naruto went on to clear up Sakura's misunderstanding.

Kakashi was listening to them talk all the while.

'Hmm? Cold? Come to think of it… this cold feels uncomfortable… Damn it! This isn't regular cold!' thought Kakashi.

It was years of ninja training and experience that let him anticipate the oncoming attack.

"EVERYONE! GET DOWN!"

The flying piece of metal cut through the air and the very tip of Naruto's sea urchin-like hair.

The sound of metal meeting tree rang out through the air.

Kakashi looked at the giant sword that was embedded into the tree and recognized it as the sword of a very powerful adversary. He lifted up his forehead protector and saw where this adversary was.

"Naruto thanks for bringing that up. Just so you know, the cold you were feeling was actually killing intent coming from that man up there," said Kakashi as he pointed towards the man who was standing on top of a tree ahead of them.

Everyone looked up to see a muscular man who had a dark skin tone with spiky hair. He was only wearing a pair of trousers and was wearing a bunch of bandages around his jaw like Kakashi's facemask. What drew the attention of the ninja was the fact that he had a mist forehead protector that had a horizontal gash cutting through it.

"Well, well. Look who we have here. If it isn't Hatake Kakashi, the copycat-nin of Konoha. Looks like he brought along a pack of greenhorns and that old man with him too," said the man. "What's a celebrity like you doing here?"

"I'm here to make sure that this man finishes his bridge," answered the copycat-nin. "The bigger question should be why would a missing-nin like yourself be here of all places. Last I heard, Zabuza, the demon of the mist was spotted in cloud territory."

"Heh. You should have figured out the answer by now," said the missing-nin.

Zabuza started to form handseals. The mist around them started to thicken into fog.

"I'm here to make sure that bridge never gets built," said Zabuza as he disappeared from their sights under the cover of fog.

"Everyone into defensive positions!" ordered Kakashi.

The three genin surrounded the old man with their backs to him alert for any oncoming attacks. Kakashi stayed where he was trying to figure out where exactly their opponent was.

For the three genin, they all felt the coldness in the air intensify. Each one started to shiver.

"You know, copycat," came Zabuza's voice. It rang out through the air. "The real surprise for me is seeing you taking on a bunch of brats. Especially ones this green."

The tension in the air thickened.

"They may be green but they were more than a match for those Demon Brothers of yours," retorted Kakashi who still trying to locate Zabuza.

"Really? Not bad… but look at them," came Zabuza's voice. "They're still shaking from just this much killing intent. They really are green, aren't they?"

The coldness intensified further along with fear and a sense of impending doom.

"Hey kids! Do you know why I'm called the demon of the mist?" rang out Zabuza. "It's because I kill my all my victims silently while they're blinded by my mist."

Sasuke swallowed down his saliva.

"That only explains the mist in my title though. I got the name demon for a different reason," said the man. "You see, I became a genin by killing a hundred kids."

The urge to throw up was starting to overwhelm them.

"That moment when I killed that little girl… That was when they marked me down as a demon."

Sasuke was close to puking now. He would have too if it wasn't for Kakashi's words.

"Don't worry Sasuke," said the man calmly. He then smiled at him. "I'll never let my allies get hurt even if it costs me my life."

"HAHAHA!" came Zabuza's barking laugh. "Well you know what kids? That captain of yours must be retarded! Cause as far as I know…"

A figure emerged in front of Sasuke. It was holding a large object to its side.

"… I'LL BE SENDING YOU ALL TO MEET THEM!"

Metal cut through the air as Sasuke closed his eyes.

CLANG

Metal met metal as Sasuke opened his eyes to see Kakashi single-handedly blocking the large sword with a kunai.

Pushing the sword and Zabuza away, Kakashi then cut through the demon of the mist's body with another kunai in his other hand seemingly splitting the man in half.

SPLASH

Unfortunately the two halves of the man suddenly turned into water.

"Mizu Bunshin?!" exclaimed Kakashi in surprise.

The mist was staring to clear up a bit. Just enough to see another Zabuza swing his sword into Kakashi from behind.

Kakashi also seemed to be split in two when the two halves revealed themselves to be water.

"When did you copy m-!" said the Zabuza as it too turned into water after being attacked by Kakashi.

The mist had finally cleared enough for them to see Zabuza standing on of the surface of the lake up ahead.

"Not bad, copycat!" said Zabuza. "Now come at me!"

Kakashi dashed off towards the man standing on the lake's surface. As Zabuza brought up his sword in front of him.

Once they were close enough, they began a series of attacks that were all expertly avoided or countered.

All of a sudden Zabuza threw his sword at Kakashi who sidestepped it while pushing it to the side.

It would have been pushed to the side if it didn't suddenly turn into water.

Kakashi stumbled from the momentum he had put into it so that the sword would miss his team.

The Zabuza in front of him suddenly tackled him bursting into water upon contact. The water from the mizu bunshin formed into a sphere trapping Kakashi inside.

A hand was attached to that sphere of water. The person it was attached to was trying to push himself off the surface of the lake.

It was the real Zabuza.

Kakashi banged his fist on the walls of the sphere attempting to escape.

"It's no use copycat, it isn't called the water prison for nothing."

Zabuza then looked towards the kids.

"Look kids. I've got your captain in the palm of my hand now. There's no way you can win. So why don't you just hand that old man over to me and I'll spare the rest of you," said Zabuza.

The genin looked at Tazuna and then at Kakashi .

"No! Retreat! Forget about me!" said the man in the water bubble.

Sasuke thought it over for a moment and said, "Sakura take Tazuna-san with you. Naruto and I will stall for time here!"

Sakura gave a reluctant nod as she took the old man by his hand preparing to retreat.

"I don't think so!"

That came from a Zabuza that suddenly dashed out from the trees at the side of the path.

Sakura didn't have time to react.

Sasuke did however as he used a large foldable shuriken to block the blow from the sword.

In the blink of an eye, Sasuke swerved around this Zabuza and cut him in two only to find it turning into water.

While this happened Naruto took the liberty to shoot a wind jutsu at the missing-nin on top of the lake.

Zabuza didn't realize it at first but he instinctively leaned his body to the side avoiding the bullet of compressed air that collided with a tree on the other side of the lake.

"A wind jutsu?" said Zabuza as he reevaluated the genins' strengths. "Well copycat, maybe they aren't as green as I thought."

Zabuza created two more water clones in front of him and sent them towards the genin.

Naruto in turn made twenty Kage bunshin and sent them after the Zabuza clones.

"What's this copycat?! Are you training your students to be copycats too?!" said one of Zabuza's clones.

It took a swipe at the Naruto clones and took out 3 of them.

All Zabuzas looked surprised at the way the clones popped into white smoke.

"That's not mizu bunshin…" said the original Zabuza.

The Naruto clones surrounded the Zabuza clones and they all exploded in a powerful burst of smoke and wind taking them all out and blocking the genins from Zabuza's sight.

"What the hell was that?!" shouted Zabuza.

Zabuza didn't have time to get an answer from Kakashi as Sasuke jumped out the smoke and fired a giant ball of fire that was bigger than Zabuza himself towards him.

Zabuza stepped to the side raising his sword above his head and bringing it down in front of him cutting the lake's surface and forming a wall of water in front him.

Despite the resistance from the water wall, the giant ball of fire still managed to singe his right arm and heated up his sword.

Zabuza grunted in pain as he kneeled down and immersed his burnt arm and sword in the lake water to remove the heat.

Unfortunately for him, the genin had sent a barrage of kunai and shuriken at him forcing to release his hold on the copycat-nin so that he could escape.

Both men soon stood up on the surface of the lake glaring at each other.

Kakashi gave a thumbs up to the genin as he said, "Good work team, but now I'm going to show you why they call me the copycat-nin."

And so began a great water ninjutsu battle.

---------

Both men were hanging onto their last reserves while each one did their best to complete their jutsu first.

"Suiton: Suiryodan no jutsu!" shouted Kakashi a large dragon of water shot out of the lake towards Zabuza.

Zabuza didn't let the oncoming assault bother him as he continued to work on his attack.

"SUITON: SUIRYODAN NO JUTSU!" roared out Zabuza.

Zabuza's own water dragon shot off towards Kakashi's.

Both men gritted their teeth as the two dragons slammed into each, fighting for supremacy.

It seemed as though Kakashi was about to win he suddenly felt his Sharingan eye hurt.

'Damn! Been using too much chakra!' thought the jounin.

With his focus averted to his eye, Zabuza took advantage of situation and pushed even harder with his dragon overcoming Kakashi's.

A great wave of water slammed into Kakashi sending him crashing into a tree on the side of the lake opposite his genin.

The genin felt helpless as they watched Zabuza walk over to Kakashi.

"Don't worry copycat, I'll be sending them along to see you soon enough," taunted Zabuza as he raised his sword into the air.

Kakashi glared at his opponent as Sakura screamed for Kakashi to get up.

What he saw next seemed very odd to him. Instead of seeing the blackness that was supposed to come with death, he saw white.

That was followed by hearing Zabuza's grunts of pain and seeing blue float down on covering the white.

What everyone else saw was more surprising.

Someone had run up in front of Kakashi and kicked Zabuza up into the air. This person then started kicking Zabuza repeatedly while maintaining the juggling effect of the kicks.

Sasuke had estimated that this person had kicked Zabuza into the air more than several hundred times before giving one that sent the man flying high in the air.

Amazingly enough Zabuza still held onto his sword all the while.

This person who saved Kakashi then stepped onto his face using his head a stepping stone to quickly run up the tree than Kakashi was sitting against.

This time however Kakashi saw black. He had finally lost consciousness.

This savior of his then kicked of the tree throwing a powerful double legged kick at Zabuza launching him towards a bunch of trees at one of the sides adjacent to both sides of the lake.

This was highly impressive as the lake was at least several hundred meters in diameter.

Seeing no sign of movement, this person walked up to Kakashi and carried him over from the other side of the lake towards the genin. Apparently she could walk on water as well.

As this person dumped Kakashi onto the ground in front of them, the genin finally got a good look at her.

This young woman had long grey hair let down to her waist. She had dark piercing eyes and wore an equally dark headband on top of her head. She was wearing what appeared to be a blue and white and white uniform that fit her so well that it was hard for Sakura not to envy her for that hour-glass figure. Underneath her blue skirt, were long white leg-stockings that went up to her thigh. Her blue gloves matched her shoes and uniform.

She sighed and put her left hand on her thigh.

She had a tired look on her face, not from kicking someone several hundred times but the kind of tired look that you'd see on busy people. She was incredibly beautiful and gave them all the impression of seriousness.

She then looked at them, smiled and extended her hand towards them.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Tomoyo," greeted the young woman. "Reiji told me that I'd meet you all around here."

* * *

Well that's it for this chapter. Can you figure out which series I got Tomoyo from? Should be easy enough for people following Kyoto Animation's works. No side-story this time since I felt that this chapter was good enough on its own. There should be one next chapter about Itachi but with school holidays ending I'm not sure exactly when I'll be able to put that chapter out. I'd like to thank SSHiei for sending in that review. Really gave me some motivation. I wonder if a girl I know will be able to kick someone a hundred times in the air when school starts again. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the wave arc in the next four chapters like I planned. 


	9. Preparations

I don't own Naruto but I do own the right to claim that I do despite the validity of that statement.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

CHAPTER 8: PREPARATIONS

* * *

The bright glow of the morning shone through the windows onto the white walls of the room where a certain man lay. This man was slumbering in a sleeping bag onto the bare floor without a care in the world.

Or at least he was an hour ago when Sakura last checked up on the Jounin instructor of team seven. This time, she came with another person to check on the masked man only to find that Kakashi was stirring.

A few moments passed before the ninja opened up his uncovered eye. The first thing he saw was something that made him want to thank all the powers that be.

This would be the reason he said, "Thank you god for not sending me to hell."

The grey-haired beauty that was staring at the Jounin appeared to be incapable of understanding his words resulting in her confused expression.

"I'm sorry, what?" said the beauty before Kakashi's eyes.

"SENSEI!" came a shout.

The source of that cry was one pink haired girl who just popped into Kakashi's view. Kakashi noted that she had a rather elated face on her.

"Oh hi there Sakura! Isn't heaven nice?" asked Kakashi pleasantly as he made to sit up. "Sorry you had to come with me but at least we're both in a better place now."

"Huh?" said the pink-haired girl as that happy face of hers changed into one that coincided with the one on the other female in the room.

Kakashi looks around with his one eye noticing that he appeared to be in room with holes for windows.

"Hmm. Didn't it'd be so bland here."

Both girls still kept their faces as they were. Kakashi in turned wondered why that was.

"This place I mean. I always figured that heaven would be made out of fluffy white clouds instead of rock hard concrete," sighed Kakashi. "Well at least it has the beautiful women like Jiraiya-sama's book said."

Tomoyo looked at Sakura and asked, "Sakura-san, is he usually this incomprehensible?"

Sakura's answer was, "Well… a little bit but right now I think he's just delirious."

"I can see that those two aren't around so that must mean they're in hell," stated Kakashi twisting his neck. "Oh well, never really did like Sasuke or Naruto that much. They probably deserve to go to hell anyway."

And as by some twist of fate, the two boys happened to walk through the door just in time to feel offended.

"Oh! So the both of you were here," said Kakashi as he spotted the boys who had identical throbbing veins on their heads. The man then stared at Tomoyo and asked, "By the way, shouldn't you be wearing a sexy bikini for me?"

Tomoyo was the next to feel offended.

"That better have been a joke or else I'll have to teach you some manners," warned the girl with the crossed expression.

Kakashi looked at her and then at Sakura.

"Ah! You don't need to worry about that Sakura. You don't have the figure for it anyway."

That statement left himself as the one person in the room that didn't want to beat him up.

---------

"So you're saying that I've been out for 2 days now?" asked Kakashi.

The three genin nodded.

"That the young lady over there saved us?" asked Kakashi again whilst pointing towards Tomoyo.

Three more nods.

"That a Mist hunter-nin finished Zabuza off before any of you could and took his body away?"

Three heads move up and down.

"…"

Kakashi stared at the genin for a while.

"Was there anything strange about the hunter-nin?"

The three pondered about this for a moment.

"Well… he was really young. Maybe around our age," answered Sakura.

"No, I don't really mean that. After all, there are plenty of people out there who are far more powerful than I am. It shouldn't really be a surprise if some of them are kids," stated Kakashi.

The three teens were surprised to hear that.

"Was there anything else that seemed strange?" asked Kakashi. None of three rookies could come up with anything. "How about you miss…"

The blue and white clad girl looked at Kakashi.

"Tomoyo," said the girl.

"Okay. Tomoyo-san, was there anything strange about the hunter-nin?" asked Kakashi.

Tomoyo stared a bit at the silver-haired man.

"Yes, there was one thing," answered Tomoyo slowly. "He didn't destroy the body on the spot."

"I see…" said Kakashi as he rested his chin onto his hand. He stayed like that for a while before turning back to Tomoyo. "Well then, Tomoyo-san. Thank you for saving us but I must know who you are before I can really trust you."

Tomoyo closed her eyes and sighed.

"As I have said before, my name is Tomoyo. I am one of Reiji's subordinates. He's the one who sent me your way," stated the girl.

"That guy, huh? I'll have to thank him later but what's keeping you here with us? What's your purpose for coming here?" asked Kakashi.

"Well, he did send me here to keep watch over you until he comes but I' m also searching for a criminal that was seen nearby," answered Tomoyo. "But I didn't expect to run into one of my other targets."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Other targets? Do you mean Zabuza?" asked Kakashi.

Tomoyo nodded.

Kakashi pondered for a moment. So did Sakura and Sasuke but about something else.

"Tomoyo-san, what is it exactly that your organization does? I always thought that you all simply collect information to sell. I didn't think that you hunt down missing-nins too."

Tomoyo looked at him.

"You're right to think that."

"Then why?"

"That's a personal matter. It concerns the condition of my membership in the organization."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow once more.

"Membership conditions?"

"Yes. The Mist doesn't let go of their ninjas without a price. Mine was to bring back the remaining swords back to the village until all of them are back where they belong."

"You're from the mist?"

Everyone's attention was now on the inquirer, Sasuke. His expression betrayed his suspicion.

"Yes, why?" asked Tomoyo.

"Don't worry Sasuke. If she was with Zabuza she would have killed us by now," said Naruto who had been unusually quiet up till now.

"Naruto!" said Sakura as she punched him.

POOF

'Naruto' just disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sakura and Tomoyo looked surprised at this.

"So that's why he wasn't talking so much today," mused Kakashi. "Why don't you two go look for him."

"Hn," came Sasuke's response. He sat up and left the room with Sakura in tow.

The two remaining occupants of the room stared at the door before turning to each other.

"Sorry about that," apologized Kakashi.

"Don't worry about it. It's perfectly understandable," replied Tomoyo.

"So who was it that you were looking for? I assume it's someone that should worry me."

---------

At this time Naruto was in the middle of the woods near Tazuna's house working on something.

That 'something' looked to be his jumping ability to Sakura and Sasuke.

"What's he doing?" asked Sakura.

"Looks like the idiot's trying to give himself head trauma by jumping into trees," stated Sasuke.

True enough, as high as Naruto was launching himself into the air it would still look stupid every time he knocked his head into a branch.

"NARUTO!" shouted Sakura whilst running as the person in question fell back to earth.

"Hmm? Sakura?" said the blonde as he got up off the ground. "What's up?"

"What's up is the nerve you have to send up a clone to check on sensei while you're out here hurting yourself," said Sakura as she kneeled down beside Naruto and took out a medical pack out of her pouch.

Sasuke stood behind Sakura looking around noticing the round shaped patches of flattened grass while Naruto was whining about not needing help.

"Naruto," started Sasuke gaining the attention of the other two genin members of his team. "What were you doing just now? I know you're an idiot but even you aren't stupid enough to keep jumping into trees."

"Hey!" shouted Naruto. "Ouch!"

"Stop struggling," said Sakura as she attempted to apply disinfectant on Naruto's forehead.

"Well? What were you doing?" asked Sasuke.

"Nothing you need to know about," answered Naruto crossing his arms. "Well at least not until I use it against you!"

Sasuke smirked.

"A jutsu, huh?" said Sasuke. "Making yourself stupider by bumping your head doesn't usually help, you know."

Naruto was about to say something when Sakura tightened the bandage around his head.

"OW!"

"There, all done!" said Sakura as she stood up. "Come on, let's get back to Kakashi-sensei."

"Hmph," said Naruto as he got up.

---------

The three came back to the house just in time to watch a scene end.

"YOU'RE ALL JUST GOING TO DIE ANYWAY!" shouted a small boy in a white hat as he ran away from Tomoyo and Kakashi who was standing with the help of a pair of crutches.

"I'll handle him," said Tomoyo as she walked away from Kakashi.

"What was that all about?" asked Naruto.

Kakashi looked at the trio.

"Something you'd be better off not knowing," said Kakashi. "By the way, nice of you to join us Naruto. That is if you're the real one. Sasuke, would you please check for me?"

"Gladly," said Sasuke as he sucker punched Naruto in the face and onto the ground.

"Dammit! What was that for?" shouted Naruto.

"Well, at least we know it's the real one this time," said Kakashi.

Naruto grumbled as he got up.

"Now then let's get down to business. Need to get you prepared before Zabuza comes back," said Kakashi as he walked towards a tree.

"Comes back?" said all three in unison.

"Yeah, that hunter-nin was most likely one of Zabuza's cohorts so there's a good chance we need be prepared for next time," explained Kakashi turning around to face them at the base of a tree.

Kakashi then proceeded to put one foot onto the tree and to the shock of the rookies, he walked up the tree.

"How are you doing that?!" shouted both Naruto and Sakura.

Sasuke was silent but his eyes were also set on Kakashi's feet.

"Chakra, that's how," said Kakashi. "Pour some into your feet and get it to cling to the tree's surface but you need to get the amount just right or else you'll ending failling or…"

Just before Kakashi could finish that sentence, Naruto ran towards another tree with a grin on his face.

The others watched as he put one foot onto the tree and it seemed to stick to it at first.

But the moment he landed the other foot onto the tree…

CRACK

A loud cracking sound rang through the air as Naruto sailed through the air away from the tree that now had several gashes in it before he crashed onto the ground three meters away.

"… just like Naruto," said Kakashi.

"Ouch…" groaned Naruto as he got up.

"Naruto, for future references, while using elemental chakra may feel more comfortable than normal chakra, the chances of messing up a jutsu is much bigger and the end result is much worse if you fail," said Kakashi.

"Really?" asked Naruto.

Kakashi sighed.

"You only flew that far because you used your wind chakra instead of your normal one, you know. It wouldn't have hurt as much if you just stuck to the normal one," explained Kakashi. "Which reminds me… CATCH!"

Kakashi threw something white at both Sasuke and Sakura.

Both caught it without much difficulty although Sakura accidentally broke hers in half.

"WAH! Sorry Kakashi-sensei!" asked Sakura as she held the two pieces of tree bark in her hands.

"That okay Sakura. Just pass one of those to Naruto," said Kakashi.

She promptly did so.

"Naruto, I want you to put some chakra into that wood," said Kakashi.

"Huh? What? Why?" asked Naruto.

"Just do it," said Kakashi flatly.

Naruto looked at the piece of wood in his hand put his chakra into it and it quickly split itself into multiple pieces.

"…"

Kakashi stared at the pieces in Naruto's hand.

"GAH! Sorry Kakashi-sensei! I think I put in too much!" said Naruto panicking a bit.

"That's okay Naruto, that's supposed to happen," said Kakashi.

The genin looked the remains of the tree bark.

"Well not usually like that. People with wind chakra usually split in two pieces once they put in chakra but those who usually use stuff like this haven't even trained their elemental chakra yet," added Kakashi. "But judging from how many pieces that you split it into, I'd have to say that you already have it developed to a high degree."

Naruto grinned.

Sasuke and Sakura followed Naruto's example and looked at their pieces.

Sasuke's piece of bark started burning away at one end and cracks formed in the middle.

Sakura's one started to go moist in her hand making her hold it away from herself.

"Well I guess that means that Sakura has water as her element while Sasuke has fire and probably lightning too," said Kakashi.

"Probably?" asked Sasuke. "What do you mean probably?"

"Well… We usually use the refined form of the tree fiber to do this but I just plucked these on my way back from sending back the missing-nin that attacked us," explained Kakashi. "So I'm not exactly sure if those cracks on Sasuke's piece mean that he has two elements instead of one."

Sasuke stared at the piece of wood in his hand that he just put out.

"Anyway, start walking."

---------

Night has finally come to the country of waves and right now it was chow time.

Tazuna sat next to Kakashi discussing Wave's situation opposite to his daughter and grandson. Next to Tsunami on the side opposite to Inari's seat was Sakura. She was talking to Tomoyo who sat next to her as well. Sasuke was opposite her eating as if he was trying to beat record for the shortest amount of time to stuff down a bowl of rice.

"Sasuke, if you eat too fast you're going to choke to death," stated Kakashi.

Sasuke glared at Kakashi for a moment before going back to his dinner.

"Seriously Sasuke, I know a couple of people who actually died that way. It's not really a good way to go," said Kakashi.

Sasuke ignored him.

Kakashi turned to Sakura.

"Sakura, where's Naruto?" asked Kakashi.

"I think he's training in the woods," answered Sakura.

"Isn't he hungry?" asked Kakashi.

"I doubt it, he brought along some food with him when he left."

Without warning, Sasuke got up from his seat and proceeded to walk out the door. His dishes were now completely devoid of food.

"Where's that one going?" asked Tazuna.

"Probably going to train some more," answered Kakashi. "Maybe he's still angry that Naruto reached the top before he did."

"Are those two always this competitive?" asked Tomoyo.

Kakashi turned to Sakura. The others followed Kakashi's lead.

"Um, well yes," said Sakura hesitantly. "But it's not bad as it was during the academy, they were a lot worse up till that time those Iwa-nin snuck into the village. After that, things calmed down between them."

"Huh," said Tazuna.

---------

Soon after he had left the house, Sasuke had proceeded to walk to the nearest pond in the vicinity. Once he arrived, he stood in front of it for a while.

'That idiot may have beat me at tree-walking but I'll be damned if he figures out how to walk on water before I do,' thought Sasuke.

Sasuke stepped towards the edge of the pond and started channeling chakra through his feet.

'This shouldn't be too hard," murmured Sasuke as he put his right foot on the surface of the pond.

Sasuke smirked as he stepped with his left foot further into the pond.

'Right, now to get to the other side.'

He started walking.

---------

SPLASH

'What was that?' thought Naruto as he got up from the ground wiping away the sweat on his forehead.

He examined his handiwork.

All around him were trees with clusters of gashes on them.

Naruto readied himself and in blink of an eye he was up in the air. Feet made contact with tree. Chakra ran through them keeping him stuck to the tree.

'Now!' thought Naruto.

Instantly winds started rushing around Naruto's feet.

CRACK

Naruto soared through the air and was now flying headfirst towards a tree. Stretching out his arms, Naruto made to grab hold of the tree.

Unfortunately for him, his grip on the tree was inadequate resulting in him swinging around it. However his grip slipped and he ended up crashing onto the ground once again.

"Damn!" swore the blonde. "Missed!"

----------

Unbeknownst to the two of them, they were being watched.

"So this is what they're up to..."

With those words Tomoyo returned to the house.

* * *

Well I'm back after two months. I feel pretty damn rusty so I don't think it turned out too fluid. I was really busy all throughout January and my computer finally busted down in February. Just got a new one to work with but for now I'll have to stop it here.

I brought Tomoyo into this story to shed a bit more light on Jukuchi Sesou but at most I think she'll be in the story until the end of the chuunin exams. Some of you have probably figured out what Tomoyo's reason to follow them back to Konoha will be.

The jutsu that Naruto's working on probably isn't something you've read anywhere on this site since I'm hoping to keep it as original as possible. The reason I'm having all of them learning about elemental chakra this early is to set up the jutsus I have in mind for them.

It's nice to see that the hits for this story increased by nearly 300 while I was away for the past two months but I'd still like more reviewers to help me make improvements to the story.

By the way I actually happen to know someone who stuffed down a whole bowl of rice in 20 seconds.

Finally, I think I promised to include an Itachi side-story this chapter and so I have. Enjoy.

ITACHI AND THE YELLOW PRINNY

On one fine day, a pair of creatures were conversing in the native language of their location which happened to be the edge of the cliff of the Hokage monument. One was clearly not human while the other would bring up debates on whether he ever was in the future.

"…and so, we, the souls that have sinned while we were alive are doomed to live out their afterlife in makeshift penguin like bodies until we have done enough work to redeem ourselves for reincarnation, dood," explained the yellow prinny.

Itachi stared at the prinny for a moment.

"That's all fine and dandy but I asked for the reason why you guys explode whenever I kick you," said Itachi.

"Ah, I see, dood," said the prinny.

It considered what the answer to Itachi's question was for a few seconds before answering.

"Well, I'm not sure about this as it's a theory that one of the other prinnies came up with, dood," started the prinny. "According to the Kurtis theorem, prinny bodies are actually inflated with highly pressured helium gas which is supposed to be flammable, dood. It takes a certain amount of force to make the compressed gas in our bodies break apart the skin layer, dood. Once that happens, all the gas propels us into the air and causes us to explode when we finally crash into something, dood."

Itachi considered the prinny's words for another moment.

"So you're saying that prinnies are actually human sinners turned slaves who got themselves stuck in an over inflated gasbag of a body?" asked Itachi.

The prinny suddenly felt depressed.

"I'd rather that you don't rationalize my current condition in such a manner, dood," said the prinny dejectedly.

Itachi looked at the prinny's pathetic expression.

"How long do you have stay a prinny anyway?"

The prinny looked up to the sky.

"I'd have to say either another 3 or 4 years working for you or six months working for… Etna-sama."

"Etna-sama?"

The prinny started shaking violently and stared at Itachi with eyes stretched so wide open that Itachi could have sworn they were now the size of his feet.

"Someone I pray you will never ever have the misfortune to meet. Hell hath no fury Etna-sama's pudding stolen."

"I see…" spoke Itachi though somewhat curious now. 'Didn't even say dood at the end. Must be a pretty scary person…'

Itachi waited for the prinny to stop shaking before continuing with the conversation.

"Come to think of it, why do you keep saying 'dood'?" asked Itachi.

"Dood, do you remember when I said that we're full of gas, dood?" inquired the prinny.

Itachi nodded.

"Well since the gas is helium, it makes our voices sound really squeaky, dood. That gas makes a squeaky noise when we speak and once we breathe out at the end of a sentence, the noise will sound like this, doooo…" said the prinny as it opened up its beak and remained that way for a half a minute still making that sound. "…ooooooooooood. See, dood?"

"… I suddenly have an urge to pursue a career as a monk," said Itachi.

And for all of a whole minute Itachi seriously considered the idea becoming a monk. It ended when he finally saw what he'd been waiting for.

BEEP

That was Itachi's watch.

"Time for him to get up," said Itachi turning on his Sharingan.

"What is it we're waiting for dood?" asked the prinny.

"That," said Itachi as he pointed to a spot near the hot springs.

The prinny took out a pair of binoculars from the brown leather pouch it was wearing on its stomach. It then looked through them and saw what Itachi was pointing to.

"Why is there a bed on that cliff, dood?" asked the prinny.

Itachi smirked. He then formed a handseal with his right hand.

"Boom," said Itachi.

BOOM

Part of the cliff that the bed was on was blasted away in that explosion. Apparently there were a few explosion tags situated just under the cliff and now that cliff was breaking apart.

"Shisui said the best way to start the day was to take a dip in the hot springs," said Itachi.

The prinny could only pray for the safety of the aforementioned Uchiha as the cliff finally gave way.


	10. Progress

Don't own Naruto but I know real ninja techniques.

"Speech"

'Thought'

CHAPTER 9: PROGRESS

* * *

A slow creaking noise resounded through the air. This was due to a door opening.

The creaking was followed by sounds of dripping water. This would be because the guy who opened the door was soaked from his head to his toes.

"Had a nice swim?"

That was the sound of someone asking an annoying question. At least it was to Sasuke. The source was one seemingly amused Kakashi.

Sasuke's response would be a grunt of sorts as he climbed up the stairs to their room just as Sakura and Tomoyo started coming down. Both the girls stared at the stoic boy as he passed by them.

Kakashi sighed.

"Well at least they're taking things seriously," murmured Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, why is Sasuke-kun all wet like that?" asked Sakura as she and Tomoyo sat at the table with him.

"Probably figuring out how to walk on water," answered the man. "I should probably teach you and Naruto how to do that too when I feel up to swimming."

"Speaking of Naruto, where is he?" inquired Sakura.

"He's probably sill out working on something. But somehow I doubt he'll get anywhere with water walking just yet. That is, if he is working on water walking."

It was after Kakashi finished saying that Tsunami came in from the kitchen with their breakfast.

Dressed in something that girls would wear, Haku, Zabuza's partner in crime plucked a small herb out of the ground and placed it in a basket filled with others that the boy would use in making medicine.

After picking plants the boy thought were useful, he moved to another spot to look for any other flora that might be useful. This action would be repeated over and over without much variation until he came to one particular clearing.

This clearing was different from the rest he's been to that day as all the trees in that particular clearing were scratched up one way or another.

No, scratched up would be an understatement as there were at least dozens of different gashes of different sizes on each one. It was almost as if some demonic creature passed by here and decided to vent its rage into the trees. If that was true then it must have been something big as the scratches even reached up to heights that were too high for normal humans to climb up.

Haku would probably have gone on to speculate the possibility of the creature being one of the mythical flying piranhas that were supposed to have lived in that area three centuries ago. He definitely would have if it weren't for what was about to happen.

CRAAAAAAAACK

Before the boy could search for the source of that ominous cracking sound he felt a sudden rush of pain invading his senses. Everything went black after that.

The first thing Haku noticed when he woke up was that the pain he felt before blacking out had dulled down to a sensation that could be likened to being sat on by a very large sumo wrestler.

He slowly made to sit up while looking over himself to check for any injuries. The pain had subsided a bit once he managed to raise himself off the floor.

Haku looked around for whatever it was that hit him and found that two things had changed while he was knocked out.

The first was the relatively large branch a few feet away from him.

'That's what probably hit me," thought the boy rubbing the sore areas of his neck.

The second thing he noticed was that there was another person in the clearing with him.

'It's one of those leaf-nin!' thought Haku suddenly feeling much more alert. This realization took place just when the leaf-nin decided it was time to check on his unconscious acquaintance.

"Oh, you're up!" said Naruto cheerily. "You were out for about three hours now. Sorry about that."

"Sorry about what?" asked Haku.

"For falling down of you," said Naruto offering an apologetic gesture to Haku.

Haku only had one response for that.

"Huh?" said the effeminate boy. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I fell down on you from up there," explained the blonde as he pointed towards somewhere above Haku. "You see, I was so beat from training last night that I fell asleep on that branch over there. I thought it was strong enough but looks like it decided to snap when I woke up."

Haku stared at the boy wondering just exactly what kind of ninja would sleep like that.

"I see… So who are you?" asked Haku.

"Me? The name's Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage of Konoha," replied the blonde.

"Konoha? Isn't that one of those ninja villages?"

"Yup! The best one in the world! We have the best ninjas at home and the old man's the best one!" said the boy excitedly. "Well, he's supposed to be since he's the Hokage but then again he is really old."

"So that's why you were training? To become Hokage?" asked Haku.

"Not exactly…"

"Then what were you training for?"

"I don't want to be the Hokage," started the boy. "I'll definitely be Hokage someday but that doesn't make me the strongest. I want to be much stronger than that. I want to be strongest!"

Haku considered Naruto's words for a moment before speaking.

"I suppose that's an amazing dream, but Naruto-san, do you have a person in your life that you treasure?" asked Haku.

"Well, yeah I guess."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well…" spoke the boy. "I don't know if I can say if I have them. I haven't seen them for a long time and with them being ninjas too, there's a good chance that they might be dead. Iruka-sensei won't have as much time to spend with me anymore plus after that night I'm not too keen on hanging around him. The old man was…"

Naruto started going into rant about the people around him. It was a while before Naruto stopped ranting.

"I can see why you have trouble with that… but do you really think you'll be able to become strong without others around you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Naruto-san, a person's true strength will only come out when they are protecting their loved ones. It's when they are fighting for others that they can find the power to overcome all odds," said Haku smiling.

Naruto looked surprised.

"Huh? You think so too? The old man said something like that too," said Naruto. "Guess there's something to that, huh?"

Haku started to stand up.

"Well then Naruto-san, I have to be on my way now. My precious person is waiting for me. Please think about what I said," said the boy in girl's clothing.

Naruto watched the boy leave but remembered something.

"Wait! What's your name?" shouted Naruto.

Haku looked back.

"It's Haku!" Haku shouted back. "And I'm a boy by the way."

Naruto suddenly had a disgusted expression pasted on his face. He was reminded of his unpleasant wake up call.

"Yeah… I know," replied Naruto in a rather depressed tone.

Haku went on his way.

After stopping by a nearby pond to cool off a bit, Naruto proceeded to walk back to the bridge builder's house. On his way he met up with a pair of the opposite sex.

"Ah! Naruto! There you are!" shouted Sakura as she spotted the boy from a small distance. She ran towards him with Tomoyo behind her. "Where have you been? You probably haven't even eaten anything yet."

"Ohayo Sakura!" greeted the boy cheerily. "Don't worry about me. I had some ramen for breakfast."

"Naruto!" said the girl. "That's not good for you. You have to eat something more nutritious than that in the morning."

"Yeah yeah, I know! That's probably the thousandth time you've said that to me," said the boy smiling as he said that.

"And you probably won't learn even if say it a thousand more times," said Sakura smiling. "I still don't see how you have so much energy from eating just that…"

Naruto could only grin back.

"Uzumaki-san," called out Tomoyo.

Naruto turned to her.

"Yeah, Tomoyo-neechan?" asked the boy.

"I am under the impression that you and Sakura-san have been acquaintances for quite some time now, am I right?" asked Tomoyo.

"Yeah that's right," answered Naruto.

"Are the two of you also well acquainted with Uchiha-san?" inquired the 17-year old girl.

Naruto and Sakura glanced at each other for a moment.

"You could say that," said both Naruto and Sakura at the same time.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Tomoyo raising an eyebrow at their response.

"Well… about Sasuke-kun. We're the only two people he really ever talks to so I guess that puts us closer to him but even that isn't very frequent," said Sakura. "He still doesn't trust us even after all this time. I keep trying to get him to open up more but he just shies away if I start getting to close."

"Sasuke still doesn't trust us even after that time in the academy. He's still brooding about his family and getting his revenge. He hasn't ever told us who killed them but he said that he needs to keep getting stronger if he ever wants kill his target," said Naruto. "That guy really has some trust issues to work on."

"I see what you mean," said Tomoyo. "But what do you mean by that time?"

Naruto and Sakura frowned slightly.

"It was something that happened to us nearly two years ago in the academy. We were all out on a field trip when it happened," said Sakura. "We only really got to know each other better thanks to that but I think that it might have been better if it didn't happen at all."

"Why?" asked Tomoyo.

Sakura tried to avoid eye contact with Tomoyo. Naruto had a bittersweet smile on his face.

"Because if it didn't happen," stared Naruto. "No one would have died."

Tomoyo blinked.

"What happened?" asked Tomoyo.

Sakura started murmuring about something. Naruto knew what that meant.

"Could we talk about something else? It's not really something we want to talk about," stated Naruto. "So where were you two going?"

Tomoyo noted the Naruto's attempt at changing the subject. It wasn't subtle but it'd do.

"Well actually, the both us were going to work on Sakura's taijutsu," replied Tomoyo. "Isn't that right, Sakura?"

"Um, yeah," said Sakura. "Tomoyo-san's going to show me some of her fighting techniques."

"Fighting techniques? You mean that super fast kicking thing you used on Zabuza?" asked Naruto eager to know.

Tomoyo smiled.

"That," began Tomoyo. "And a few other things."

"Cool!" burst out Naruto. "You better get started then! See you later!"

Naruto ran off towards the house.

"Well then, this looks like a good place to get started," said Tomoyo.

Sakura and Tomoyo were now at clearing not unlike the one Naruto used recently. At least before he used it.

"So what are we going to do first?" asked Sakura.

"I'll start by teaching you the history behind the Hansunohara no Shubi style," replied Tomoyo.

Sakura blinked in surprise.

"The what style?" inquired Sakura.

"The Hansunohara no Shubi style," reiterated Tomoyo.

"The anti spring meadow self defense style? Am I misunderstanding the name?" asked Sakura.

"Yes, you are," answered Tomoyo. "In this case 'Sunohara' refers to a man one of my ancestors kept fighting off. Every firstborn girl in my clan is named after her. Apparently among all the other Tomoyos in my clan, I resemble her the most."

"Wow…" said Sakura. "So you're saying that your family's fighting techniques were invented to fight off a single man? Was he really that bad of a person?"

Tomoyo nodded.

"What did he do to your ancestor anyway?" questioned the pink-haired girl.

"This man and all those who bear his name are the natural enemies of all women in the world. Every firstborn boy of the Sunohara clan also follows a tradition in naming much like mine. To the women in my clan, all men called Sunohara Youhei should be beaten up without hesitation."

Sakura blanched and sweatdropped.

"They can't all be that bad, can they?" asked Sakura.

Tomoyo's unseen aura flared. Sakura who had some talent in sensing chakra could feel it quite clearly.

"They are," hissed Tomoyo. "Every generation of Sunohara Youhei are all disgusting desperate degenerates who demean women everywhere with their attitude."

"Seriously?" asked Sakura.

"Trust me on this, every single creature named Sunohara Youhei on this planet carries an attitude that is as traditional as their name," declared Tomoyo. "They are the SCUM of all men."

Sakura was somewhat scared at Tomoyo's resentment towards those individual. She gave off a weak laugh.

"If you say so," said Sakura.

"Well enough of that, onto the next part," stated Tomoyo.

Tomoyo pulled out a grey stone dagger out from behind her.

"There are knife techniques in this style?" questioned Sakura.

"No, this is something Reiji gave me," stated Tomoyo. She held the dagger out for Sakura to see.

It was just over half the length of Tomoyo's forearm and seemed to be a normal dagger except that the sides of the blade had intricately designed engravings on them.

'It looks so…' thought Sakura unable to find a word to describe it. There was something about it.

"I know, it's really… something," said Tomoyo with an amused smile on her face. "Just like the guy who made it."

"Hmm? The guy who made it?" said Sakura.

"Reiji, I mean," continued Tomoyo. "He made it himself. He made them for everyone in our organization. There's no one else in the world who could make anything like this."

"What do you mean by that?"

Tomoyo smiled.

"Watch," said Tomoyo.

Tomoyo showed her the dagger in her palm.

"Now you see it," started Tomoyo.

She clenched her hand and the dagger vanished as it closed.

"Now you don't," finished Tomoyo.

Sakura had her eyes wide open in shock.

"How did you?" she managed to say after a brief silence in awe.

"Like I said, only Reiji could make something like this," said Tomoyo.

"Naruto where are you going?" asked Kakashi just in time.

Naruto was halfway out the door when he answered Kakashi.

"Training!" shouted the boy as he ran towards the woods.

Kakashi sighed just as Sasuke came down the stairs.

"Looks like you'll be handling the bridge alone today, Sasuke," said Kakashi.

Naruto reached the clearing he'd been using for training and looked around.

After deeming it safe enough, Naruto took out a seemingly worn out scroll out of his jacket.

He stretched his arms apart holding both ends of the scroll revealing its contents to the blonde.

Naruto scanned through the scroll looking for something.

"I remember seeing something like it in here somewhere," thought Naruto out loud.

He rolled past three quarters of the scroll before he finally found what he was looking for.

"Here it is," said Naruto to no one but himself. "The key to my problem."

On the section that Naruto was looking over, there were illustrations accompanied by paragraphs of text explaining the jutsu he was reading on in detail.

Hiashi no Michi

That was the name of the technique he was looking up.

That was one of the many jutsus that were listed down in the scroll he found all those years ago. The author's name had become illegible over time but Naruto still remembered the name that was once scrawled on the exterior of the scroll.

Naruto still didn't know who actually wrote down all these jutsus. He didn't know that most of the jutsus inside were the author's original creations. He didn't even know that the author was someone he knew. But at least he knew the author's name.

He'd have to thank this Itachi person someday.

* * *

Okay this is it for this chapter. My schedule is pretty damn busy nowadays. Hopefully this chapter will be enough to attract more interest in my story. Lately I've been debating on whether or not to continue with my plan for a three part story or scrap parts two and three. The reason? It's because the ideas I have for the final battle of part three just can't match the ideas I have for the final battle of part one. There's a lot on my plate now and I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish part one in a year's time.

Like the changes I've made to the story so far? It'll only get more interesting from here.

Next chapter will bring us to the fight against Zabuza and Haku. If you managed to get the hints I've been dropping then you should be expecting something interesting to happen. You'll get to see Reiji again in a couple more of chapters.

Here are meanings behind the techniques I've introduced in this chapter:

Hansunohara no Shubi – Anti Sunohara Self Defense

Thought it'd be funny to include Sunohara into the story somehow. You'll probably get to see the guy and his descendants in the future but they won't be significant to the story.

Hiashi no Michi – The Path of Spreading Fire

Can't wait for this technique to be used in the story. You'll see it about the same time Reiji comes back into the story.

By the way, should I get a Beta-reader for this story? I keep noticing that my use of language isn't quite so natural. I find a little bit of trouble with finding the right words for the characters to use to match their personality.

And finally the side-story for this chapter.

TOMOYO AND THE DAGGER

"So what else can it do?" asked Sakura.

After demonstrating the dagger's disappearing trick, Tomoyo showed Sakura what it could do. So far Sakura discovered that the dagger can be used to communicate with the other members of Jukuchi Sesou, to write, to heat up food, to light up a dark place and to conjure up a training dummy.

"Well there is this ability he put in just for me but it's a rather odd function," said Tomoyo.

"What's that?" wondered Sakura.

Tomoyo traced something on the dagger's blade with her fingers.

POOF

Out of nowhere came out a training dummy that looked incredibly lifelike.

You could tell that it wasn't alive from the straw coming from under the neck of the dummy.

"Hold this and point it at me," instructed Tomoyo before Sakura could say anything.

Tomoyo proceeded to kick the living daylights out of the dummy.

Sakura watched in awe as Tomoyo kicked it high into the air before chaining that kick with dozens more.

"Pay attention to the blade!" ordered Tomoyo still kicking the dummy.

When Sakura turned her attention to the knife, she didn't expect to find white numbers on the blade. The funny thing was that the number kept increasing and increasing with time.

'What's going on?' thought Sakura. 'It can't be a watch since the numbers are increasing too quickly.'

But then for some reason the numbers stopped at 1356 just when Tomoyo stopped Kicking the dummy and let it fall down to the ground.

"What is it?" asked Sakura.

"It's a combo counter," answer Tomoyo.


	11. Battle For The Bridge

Don't own Naruto but I'm always sneaking up on people.

"Speech"

'Thought'

CHAPTER 10: BATTLE FOR THE BRIDGE

* * *

"How long have we been here Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura.

"I'd have to say about 23 days now," answered Kakashi.

Sakura sighed as she watched the workers move materials around the bridge. Kakashi said it wasn't a good idea to tire themselves out in case the enemies came again.

Watching people work on the bridge may have been interesting at first but after the first week there wasn't anything they that was new anymore. The workers didn't help with the mundane situation of the construction. Aside from Tazuna, the rest of the men working on the bridge were too scared to do anything else but work. They didn't even talk to each other much less them.

The only times that silence didn't envelope the air was whenever Tazuna chewed someone out for messing up and whenever Naruto decided to help out with his shadow clones.

Obviously this meant that Naruto wasn't around right now. They left him to snooze off at the house.

That tedious routine of waking up, watching and sleeping was going to stop today.

Mist was gathering around the area and Kakashi knew what this meant. The meaning was obvious as the two ninjas that just walked into their line of sight.

"Dammit!" cursed Naruto as he rushed to the dining table.

Naruto had just woken up and now Tomoyo was watching him scarf down his now cold breakfast.

"You could choke from eating like that Naruto-san," stated Tomoyo.

And as if he were waiting for her to say that, Naruto started choking.

"GAHGRUKGUUGH!" were the noises that could be heard from the boy.

Tomoyo sighed.

"I told you," said the girl. "Let me help you with that."

Tomoyo stood up and approached Naruto. She then thrust her open palm into Naruto's chest just under the sternum and quickly stepped to her right.

A disgusting mixture of partially digested food and slobber flew out of his mouth and splattered onto the wall he was facing. Naruto grabbed the glass of water that was prepared for him and drank it all down.

"Feel better?" asked Tomoyo.

"Haa… Yeah, much better," replied Naruto just before he went back to scarfing down his food.

It seems he didn't learn from past experience.

Before Tomoyo could say anything about it Naruto finished swallowing down the lump of nutrition he had in his mouth.

"Tell Tsunami-neesan that the food was great for me!" said Naruto as he ran off outside.

Tomoyo could never understand energetic people and Naruto truly deserves to be called energetic.

Tomoyo closed the door and went back to reading her book.

Several minutes passed and Tomoyo heard a knock on the door.

'Who could that be?' wondered Tomoyo as she got up to answer the door as both Tsunami and Inari were upstairs.

Naruto was running along in the woods following the trail to the bridge when an idea struck him. He slowed down to a walk.

"Might as well try it here," he said grinning to himself.

Naruto closed his eyes still walking concentrating on his feet. He tried focusing some chakra out of his feet.

The wind started picking up around his feet.

Naruto opened his eyes as he leaned forward with his right foot in the air.

He landed his right foot just as he let out a burst of wind chakra from it. The chakra lifted his feet of the ground propelled him several meters forward.

He did the same thing as he landed his other foot still leaning forward even more accelerating his already impressive speed.

Naruto grinned. The air brushing against his face was a sure sign of success.

'What should I call it?' pondered Naruto. '… Reppu no Hou. Sounds good enough.'

As Naruto sped up, he could only say one thing.

"WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!"

Tomoyo looked up to the stairs with one hand on the door knob.

"Tsunami-san!" called out Tomoyo. "I'll be heading out to join them."

"Okay! Who was that at the door?" asked Tsunami from upstairs.

"It was Uchiha-san, he came to get me," answered Tomoyo closing the door. "Don't come out of the house, something's going on at the bridge."

Tomoyo turned her back on the door and stared at her current problem.

In front of her lay two dead mercenaries. Both of their heads were facing unnatural directions.

"Now where should I dump these two?" mused Tomoyo.

CLANG

CLANG

CLANG

After clashing with each other's weapon for the third time, both Zabuza and Kakashi landed on opposite edges of the bridge. The battle started as soon as Sasuke spotted them and took the initiative. Haku clad in the same hunter-nin uniform he wore in their first bout managed to deflect the kunais that were thrown at them. Almost immediately after that Sasuke decided that his opponent would be the one deflected his attack leaving Zabuza to Kakashi and Sakura.

Though Zabuza had two ninjas to fight he decided to ignore the pink haired girl in favor of facing off against Kakashi in a one on one duel. This left Sakura the opportunity to get the workers out of there.

Sakura scanned around for anything that might have been one of the workers. Tazuna was with her and he had decided to stay around on the bridge with them. All it took was a brief talk to convince her that he should stay.

"Tazuna-san! Run away!" pleaded Sakura to the old man.

"No way, little lady! My buddies are safer away from me than they are around me," declared Tazuna. "Those two are after me aren't they?! As long as I'm here they won't get hurt!"

"But what about your own life?!" questioned Sakura. "If not for your own sake think about Tsunami-san and Inari-chan's sake! What are they going to do without you?!"

"My daughter's old enough to take care of herself and Inari!" said the stubborn old man. "They don't need me around to get by!"

By this point in the conversation Sakura had given up making him leave. All she could do now was make sure he stayed alive. That's why they had taken to the sidelines and were now watching Sasuke and Kakashi handle the enemy.

'Is Kakashi sensei really going to be okay with just kunai against that monster of a sword?' wondered Sakura. 'Sasuke-kun looks like he needs help against that boy but I can't leave Tazuna-san alone. Where's Naruto when you need him?'

'Damn! This guy's fast!' cursed Sasuke inwardly. 'If only I had my Sharingan.'

When Sasuke thought last part he subconsciously glanced at Kakashi who was currently parrying his opponent's giant blade with a pair of kunais.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, Haku decided to lob a few more needles into his right arm in that moment of misplaced attention.

The last Uchiha of Konoha let out a grunt of pain as he jumped out of harm's way dodging the next volley of needles.

Sasuke made a grab for the shuriken in his weapons pouch but to his surprise he discovered that his right arm was immobilized. Haku stopped his assault to see the shocked expression on Sasuke's face. Apparently those needles of his weren't just there for style.

"What can you do now?" asked Haku. "I have disabled your right arm and just so you know pulling out my needles won't guarantee their use."

Sasuke glared at his opponent.

"I still have my other arm!" shouted Sasuke as he threw several shuriken at Haku with incredible precision and speed with his only usable arm.

Haku tried to dodge them but one of them managed to dig into the masked boy's right forearm just two inches away from his wrist.

"You won't be able to throw those things with that arm again," taunted Sasuke.

Haku looked at his bleeding arm. Sasuke was right. The shuriken cut through the tendon in his forearm and now it was affecting his ability to bend his fingers. Even with healing jutsu, he wouldn't be able to grip anything properly for the rest of the battle.

"Well then, I'll just have step it up a notch," replied Haku.

Sasuke watched in wonder as Haku started performing one handed seals with his left arm. An instant after seeing those one-handed seals Sasuke leaped towards his opponent throwing a kunai at the same time.

The kunai was about to reach its mark when Sasuke noticed something. Ice was forming on the weapon. By the time it made contact with Haku's mask the kunai was fully encased in a block of ice and simply bounced off the intended point of contact.

"What the?" said Sasuke.

"As you can see, I can do something most ninjas can't do," stated Haku.

Sasuke felt air around him become less damp as he watched pieces of ice form and shape themselves into needles around Haku.

"My bloodline limit allows me to manipulate the water around me and use it as a tool," declared Haku. "It even allows me to do this."

Haku lifted up his injured arm and pulled out the shuriken embedded in it. Sasuke watched in fascination as ice formed around the wound and closed its entrance.

"I did not wish to use my bloodline limit for something like this but you forced my hand," said Haku as he proceeded to perform more single handed seals.

Large sheets of ice began forming around the pair.

Sasuke knew that he'd better get out of there if he wanted to win so he made a mad dash towards the closest opening he could find.

Unfortunately for him Haku had anticipated that and brought down the ice sheets towards the ground blocking Sasuke's way.

'Damn!' silently swore Sasuke.

He began somersaulted backwards and let out a giant ball of fire towards Haku.

The blazing ball of heat enveloped Haku in its overwhelming luminescence and collided into the ice sheet behind the boy.

Sasuke expected the fireball to break through the sheet of ice but his expectations were not fulfilled as the ice sheet remained as cold and solid as ever.

Sasuke quickly went over the possible reasons for his failed attempt at breaking the ice and he came up with one likely explanation. His opponent was still alive. What he heard next confirmed that fact.

"You won't be able to break them with just that," rang out Haku's voice.

Sasuke twisted around to find where the masked boy could be and found that he was now trapped in a dome of ice.

"What you see before you are called Demonic Ice Mirrors," explained Haku. "So long as they surround you, it will be impossible for you to defeat me."

Sasuke concentrated on his next task.

"We'll see about that…" challenged Sasuke. 'I'll have to use that man's jutsu but this is my only option.'

Sasuke started forming handseals albeit clumsy due to the difficulty he found in moving his right arm.

"Whatever you are attempting will be futile against my mirrors," declared Haku's disembodied voice.

Sasuke stopped on the Tora handseal and felt all the chakra he mustered up rush towards his feet.

Sasuke dropped down to the floor in a low stance and became a blur as he dash towards the ice mirror that he hit with his Goukakyuu a few moments before.

Sasuke leapt into the air and aimed his mark towards the centre of the mirror.

'What does he intend to do?' wondered Haku as Sasuke began spinning in the air pulling his legs in.

To Haku's mild surprise Sasuke's footwear suddenly enveloped themselves in a small inferno.

The flames began to spin themselves around Sasuke and a fiery tornado of heat and light had replaced Sasuke.

The flame vortex crashed into the ice mirror and upon making contact the fire grew exponentially and filled up the icy arena.

'What on earth have they been teaching their genin?!' questioned Haku as he reinforced the ice mirrors as best as he could. He could feel the ice mirrors starting to melt.

Three seconds passed both boys by until the flames subsided and Sasuke emerged out of the dying flames and fell to the now scorched bridge.

Panting, Sasuke tuned out the pain in his feet as he noted that his ninja sandals were incinerated during his attack. Various parts of his clothing were now charred in some places but otherwise they were still fine.

Sasuke looked up towards the ice mirror he had intended to break but to his displeasure it still stood there despite the fact that he managed to vaporized some of the ice into steam.

"Impressive," sounded Haku's voice. "I've never seen an attack like that. What do you call it?"

"Hmph," grunted the Uchiha. He wasn't in the mood to answer his opponent's query. He probably shouldn't seeing as that would have used up the small amount of energy he left in him.

"Looks like you're too tired to tell me," stated Haku.

Sasuke glared at the masked boy who had finally decided to show himself. Despite the exhaustion and frustration he felt, Sasuke had to wonder how he did that.

"You can tell me later after your nap," said Haku as lobbed several volleys of needles from different directions towards his opponent.

It was at that moment time seemingly stood still for Sasuke.

'Why are they so slow?' thought Sasuke.

The needles seemed to be approaching Sasuke at less than a fourth of their normal speed.

'Whatever. I need to get out of the way,' Sasuke declared in his mind.

Feeling somewhat lighter than he had been an instant ago, Sasuke quickly kicked off the ground towards an opening in Haku's offensive effort.

As Sasuke ducked under the volley of needles flying over his head he noticed something in the ice mirrors in front of him.

Despite the fact that the mirrors distorted their reflections, Sasuke could still see the change in his eye color.

Instead of the usual cold black he was accustomed to, he now saw two red dots on his reflection's face.

His Sharingan had awakened.

Sasuke quickly forced down the joy and pride he felt to back of his mind and concentrated on his evasion efforts.

"Hm? You still have some energy to move?" questioned Haku. "You'll run of that energy soon enough."

Haku continued to launch volley after volley of needles at Sasuke.

And Sasuke continued to dodge the needles that were being thrown at him.

He was doing a real good job at that until he started to get a headache.

'Damn!' cursed Sasuke internally. 'I can't keep this up for much longer. Sharingan is using up my remaining chakra.'

Sasuke dodged the next volley of needles but the pain in his head was becoming too much for him to stand so he crashed to the ground holding his head.

"Guh," groaned Sasuke as he made to stand up. The red in his eyes faded away as he did so. Unfortunately for him, his headache did not.

"It seems that you are at your limit," observed Haku. He prepared another volley of needles. "It's a shame to see such power go to waste but I must end it here."

Sasuke felt what could be described as being bitten by a thousand ants at the same the same as he tried to avoid the needles that Haku threw at him.

Sasuke crashed into one of the mirrors as one of the needles wedged itself into Sasuke's left ankle rendering him incapable of balancing himself. The pain was made worse when some of the needles were pushed back into his body as he hit the ground.

"Goodbye, ninja of the leaf," said Haku as he threw one last volley of needles at Sasuke.

Closing his eyes, Sasuke braced himself for the upcoming pain.

But surprisingly what he felt was not pain but an irresistible urge to give in to the darkness of sleep.

As he fell into unconsciousness he heard an incredibly loud din. It seems as if something incredibly big had just been broken. The last thing he heard before slipping into slumber was someone calling out his name.

"SASUKEEEE!"

Apparently Sasuke wasn't the only one to hear it.

"Looks like you've lost one of your kids, copycat," taunted Zabuza as he broke off from another clash of weapons with Kakashi.

Kakashi looked towards his seemingly dead student's direction. Zabuza could guess what he was thinking.

"Stop grieving your student's death or else someone will be grieving yours," declared Zabuza as he went in for the kill once more.

Zabuza would be caught off guard as Kakashi suddenly displayed an amazing feat of superhuman strength as he blocked Zabuza's strike with a single kunai in his left hand.

Kakashi quickly followed up this block with strong hard kick in Zabuza's guts closely followed a surge of electricity crackling its way through his weapon.

Zabuza quickly let go of the Kubikiri Houcho as he leaped away from Kakashi. To his surprise the Kubikiri Houcho did not fall to the ground but remained suspended in the air. It seemed that Kakashi had only been successful in his block because the giant sword had embedded it self into the kunai Kakashi was running his lightning chakra through.

"Nice try, copycat," growled Zabuza. "But that won't be as effective next time."

Kakashi looked away from Zabuza towards the ice dome.

"Didn't I say not to worry your dead brat?" taunted Zabuza as he rushed towards Kakashi once more.

It seemed as if Kakashi couldn't hear him as he didn't even turn back towards Zabuza.

Just an instant away from reaching his target, Zabuza was sure he won the battle.

He might have but the sudden sensation of pain he felt told him otherwise.

Zabuza's mind could only focus on the pain he felt in his stomach and did not even realize that he was flying through the air until he landed back onto the ground several seconds later.

Zabuza grunted in pain as he saw what hit him.

Tomoyo had come to Kakashi's aid.

"You're the girl from that time!" growled Zabuza.

Tomoyo ignored Zabuza and continued to explain something to Kakashi. Judging from the seemingly relieved expression forming behind that mask of his, Kakashi had just heard something good.

"Sasuke-kun, please wake up!" pleaded Sakura as she treated Sasuke's wound. Tazuna was handing her the materials she needed from the first aid kit.

The Uchiha was still breathing but that didn't mean that his life wasn't in danger.

The healing jutsu she was using on his puncture wounds did manage to stop the bleeding but there were still a lot more needles to pull out.

She looked towards the ice dome where Naruto was now fighting the masked boy and towards Kakashi.

After dropping off Sasuke with her, Tomoyo decided to go help Kakashi with Zabuza.

Sakura prayed for their safety as she continued to tend to Sasuke's wounds.

"Now that woman is gone, shall we get on with the fight?" asked Haku as he reformed the ice wall sealing off the two boys from the outside world.

Naruto glared at his soon to be opponent. The amount of killing intent radiating of the blonde was impressive to say the least.

"You hurt Sasuke," stated Naruto.

Haku felt the air become much tenser than it had been a second ago. The killing intent in the air seemed to intensify as Naruto bowed his head down.

"**I'LL…**"

Startled, Haku started looking around for the person who had just spoken in that guttural voice.

"…**HURT…**"

It was after the second time he had heard it that Haku realized that the voice had come from Naruto.

'It's coming from him?!' shouted Haku in his mind. He started bracing himself for the worst.

"…**YOU!!**"

Burning red chakra burst forth from Naruto's small body in immensely heavy waves making the already intense killing intent in the air explode with rage. The once rigid walls of the icy arena began cracking under the immense pressure of the sheer power radiating off the boy. His now bestial appearance was only adding to the sheer terror pouring off the boy.

'Is this really the same boy that fell on me?' wondered Haku as he reinforced his ice mirrors to hold in the immense chakra spilling out of Naruto.

Zabuza kicked Kakashi away forcing the scarecrow like man to relinquish his hold on the behemoth of a sword called the Kubikiri Houcho. He quickly reached out for the sword hoping to regain its usage in battle.

Tomoyo swiped away at Zabuza's neck with the gray dagger in her barely missing it by a centimeter. She quickly followed up this failed attack with a swift and terrifyingly powerful side kick only to have her shin meet the metallic surface of the giant blade's broadside braced against Zabuza's free arm.

Zabuza brought his weapon over his head in an instant and just as instantaneously brought it down over Tomoyo.

The gray haired beauty reacted by rolling away to the side ending up in a crouching position facing Zabuza. She noted that the monstrous sword's edge had finally sliced through what had previously been a kunai as both pieces of the iron throwing weapon.

Zabuza took that moment to quickly tilt the blade towards her direction and swung it in arc hoping to do justice to the sword's name.

Tomoyo being the clever girl that she was quickly brought her legs into the air and twisted her body in such a way that her body had maneuvered itself over Zabuza sweeping attack and landed her in on the opposite side of Zabuza's weapon.

Tomoyo swiftly kneed Zabuza in the stomach and launched him into the air with an incredibly powerful kick in the chest forcing him to drop his weapon. Luckily for Zabuza the kick had launched him so high in the air that Tomoyo wouldn't be able to folloew up that one kick with several more.

Zabuza made to perform some handseals in the air but his efforts were all for naught as he felt something cold and wet slam into his backside.

Kakashi had launched a water jutsu that had taken on the form of a terribly intimidating dragon and directed it at the defenseless man still soaring through the air.

The water dragon engulfed him in its immense body of water and carried him upwards towards the sky before making a U-turn allowing it to slam its captive into the hard stone bridge below.

Water from the aquatic dragon quickly flooded the bridge before receding away revealing the injured missing-nin's body lying on the floor facing the grey skies above.

"Nowhere to hide, Zabuza," declared Kakashi. This statement of his was punctuated by the fact that all the mist the missing-nin had produced earlier had now cleared away due Kakashi's massive usage of water.

"I'll be taking this," said Tomoyo as she picked up the Kubikiri Houcho of the ground. "I'll make sure that the Mist gets this."

Zabuza tried to make a move to reclaim his sword but found that he was pinned down by several beasts. These beasts were the ninja dogs that Kakashi had summoned whilst Zabuza was still trapped in the water dragon.

Kakashi let out a relieved sigh knowing that Zabuza wouldn't be able to pull anything on them.

'Then why do I have this feeling that something bad is going to happen?' wondered Kakashi.

He got his answer when he felt a terrifying amount of killing intent wash over him much like a tidal wave would. Kakashi looked towards the source of this vile sensation and saw that the once adamant ice prison was threatening to shatter apart.

"This is… coming from those kids?" questioned Tomoyo. 'Is this what he wanted me to see?'

"What is this? Who's doing this?" questioned Zabuza. "Haku is nowhere near powerful enough to do something like this."

Kakashi knew what was causing this. He still remembered the first time he felt this feeling. The anguish, fear and despair that just rushed into the heart. The foreboding sense of dread that just vibrated throughout his very existence. He once hoped that would never have to feel this sensation ever again. Because re-encountering that sensation meant only one thing to him.

The Kyuubi was out.

Sakura clenched her jaw as she fought off the waves of terror that washed over her. It felt as if her heart was about to explode. She began to remember the worst memories that she been trying to keep locked up in her head.

"Are you alright?" asked Tazuna. While he wasn't a ninja he could still feel that something was wrong with air around them. He didn't realize how lucky he was not being able to feel the full brunt of the sensation.

Sakura faced Tazuna. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she put up a forced smile.

"I'm fine," assured Sakura. She cut Tazuna off before he could accuse her of otherwise. "I'll be fine. I've gone through this once before and I can go through it again."

Tazuna found that hard to believe. And yet, he just went along with her words as he knowing something was wrong.

Sakura looked back at the ice dome.

'Naruto…'

The waves of killing intent didn't just stay at the bridge. Their reach extended much further than that. They went far enough for two particular men to feel.

"Feel that?" asked the one with the toothy grin plastered on his face.

The other man responded with a tilt of his straw hat. That tilt implied a nod.

"Looks like my old pal is in for a fun time."

"I think I'll pop over for a visit. Wanna come?"

"Too many acquaintances."

"You're no fun, you know that?"

With that, the noisier of the two left for the bridge.

Haku was panicking. The chakra he was feeling was not only unnatural, it was downright demonic. He knew that it'd be futile to fight against this but he knew that even if he surrendered, he wouldn't be able to get out of this in one piece.

The masked boy considered the amount of damage that this chakra would do if it were invested in a jutsu. It was a frightening concept.

'But there's no way he'd do it,' reasoned Haku. 'He'll destroy the bridge if he tries something.'

It seemed as though Naruto was thinking along the same lines. He hadn't even moved an inch.

And yet Haku could tell he was up to something. The red chakra was spilling out of the boy even faster and dark sensation in the air was becoming even more sinister. He had to do something.

Haku lobbed several volleys of ice needles at Naruto but those didn't even reach their mark as they had vaporized as soon as they left his hands.

Haku began focusing his attacks in a more concentrated formed. An icicle began shaping itself into a spear right in front of the boy.

Unfortunately for him, Naruto had finally decided it was time to attack.

In the blink of an eye, Naruto had grabbed hold of the ice spear and crushed it in his bare hand. Haku barely moved in time to avoid the tremendously strong punch that Naruto smashed the mirror the masked boy was just in.

Not stopping there, Naruto proceeded to follow Haku where ever he tried running not forgetting to smash any mirrors along the way.

The growls that were coming out of Naruto's mouth were growing more and more bestial with each second.

Haku leaped out towards the centre of the arena avoiding the blow that Naruto sent smashing the last viable mirror.

Haku stared at Naruto who was glaring back at him hanging onto the now broken mirror with his arm wedged in the mirror.

Naruto crimson red eyes watched the masked boy with incomparable rage. And yet, a demonicly sinister smile made its way to the boy's features. Naruto was enjoying this little game of theirs.

Naruto bounded off the mirror and landed right in front of Haku before launching himself upwards once more tackling Haku in the process sending both boys crashing through the roof of the dome.

The icy arena finally shattered into a million pieces as Naruto ploughed Haku through the very same walls of ice that he created.

Shards of ice embedded themselves into Haku drawing blood from the boy's battered body. Naruto leaped off the shattering structure and landed a few a feet away from it still holding Haku by his neck.

Naruto lifted Haku up in the air by his neck.

Haku looked down at Naruto weakly. He could feel blood trickling down his forehead. He must have fractured his head despite the fact that his mask was still intact. Naruto was grinning wickedly back at him.

Naruto let out a huge wave of chakra from his body causing Haku to flinch.

Naruto roared as he slammed his fist into Haku's mask shattering it and sending the now unmasked boy flying away into the foggy waters below.

"Naruto…" whispered Kakashi as he watched the demonized boy send his opponent into the water. He couldn't do anything so long as Zabuza struggled to break free of the dogs that bound him. But it seemed like he wouldn't have to worry about that. 'That boy must have been important to him.'

'Haku… lost?' thought Zabuza. Needless to say, Zabuza was the one most affected by his apprentice's defeat.

"Is that really him?" questioned Tomoyo as she wrapped Sasuke's wounds with bandages.

"Yes… but not the one we know," answered Sakura. She was trembling from the terror that threatened to overwhelm her. "That's the other him."

"The other him?" Tazuna asked.

"I've seen him become like this only once before," explained Sakura despite her shaky voice. "Me and Sasuke-kun didn't know what to do but when he was done, Naruto fell asleep."

Kakashi knew what happened. He was briefed upon their 'experience' when they were assigned to him. But Naruto was releasing far more power than what was described in the report.

"When he woke up, Naruto didn't remember what happened no matter how much I tried to get him to remember," continued Sakura. "That's why we called it the other Naruto. Naruto would never do something like this on purpose."

"So… you call that, Naruto?" asked someone. "Weird name for a Jinchuriki."

Everyone was startled by it. Except for one of them, the voice that had asked that did not belong to anyone they knew.

"You!" shouted Tomoyo as she glared at the newcomer.

Zabuza craned his neck to look at the new arrival and one glance was all he needed to confirm his suspicion.

With that blue skin of his, there was no way Zabuza could not recognize him.

Resting his giant blade on his shoulder, the newcomer greeted Zabuza with his patented shark like grin.

"Long time no see, eh Zabuza," said the one and only Hoshigaki Kisame.

Their shock at the renegade ninja's sudden appearance was further enforced by the giant mountains of ice that enclosed them on both sides of the bridge.

Haku was weaving in and out of unconsciousness as he floated in the river's water. His blood was mixing with the river water and yet he didn't acknowledge the pain that came from his wounds.

'Is this it for me?' questioned Haku. 'I can't move…'

Closing his eyes, Haku let the hopelessness of the situation sink in.

The blackness greeted him and he welcomed it.

However, he could not simply accept his death. Someone didn't want that.

"Hey kid!"

Haku could see whoever it was that said that but that voice rang out clearly through his head.

"Do you really want to go like this?"

'I can't even if I wanted to…'

"I can give you the power for one last fight."

'I won't win…'

"I want to see you fight."

'I don't want to fight anymore.'

"All you have to do is take this."

Haku felt something hard fall into his hand.

"Just take it and you'll live for just a while longer."

Haku felt a strange energy fill him. He could feel his pain coming back. Oddly enough, he could also feel his pain fading.

"Take it, and you can save your mentor."

'Zabuza-sama? He's still alive?'

"If you want to save him,"

Haku's fingers started twitching

"Grab my sword and…"

His fingers began wrapping themselves around the object.

"FIGHT!"

Haku grabbed hold of it and immediately felt cool unbridled power rush into him.

Naruto glared at the glaciers that surrounded him.

"Naruto-san," called out a familiar voice. Naruto immediately recognized it.

"**HAKU?**" questioned Naruto still releasing demonic chakra from his body.

"Let's have a rematch," declared the voice of Haku. It sounded as if Haku was right behind him.

Surprised by the challenge, Naruto turned around to face him. Seeing Haku only increased that surprise.

Haku was staring down at him from the atop the peak of the glacier on his right with an ice blue and snow white short sword in his right hand.

But it wasn't finding out that Haku was the boy he was fighting that surprised Naruto the most. It was seeing the boy being almost entirely covered in ice.

Only half of Haku's face could be seen unmarked by ice.

"A person will only be at their strongest when they are fighting for their precious persons," declared Haku as he raised his sword. The glacier seemed to shake with the sword.

He pointed the tip of his sword at Naruto. An icy wind began to fill the new arena.

"And for my precious person, I shall eliminate you and the rest of your team."

Naruto snapped out of his shock and his demonic aura flared back to life with it.

Naruto displayed a menacing grin not unlike the Kyuubi's.

"**THIS TIME, I'LL MAKE SURE YOU WON'T EVER GET UP AGAIN!**"

With that Naruto leaped high into the air.

Haku brought the sword towards himself in a guard position.

The battle commenced once more

* * *

Bet you didn't see this coming. How many of you actually considered me bringing Kisame into this? Try predicting what will happen from here on. The next chapter will be called divergence point. That should be a good clue to think about.

I hinted a bit more at what happened to Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto in the academy. I think the changes I made to the battle scenes are reasonable. Their strengths have to be adjusted so I can speed up their growth.

Reppuu no Hou means the "Way of Violent Winds". It's the fundamental technique for the fighting style I have planned for Naruto. You won't ever see him use Hiashi no Michi as that requires fire elemental chakra which Itachi has but Naruto doesn't.

The spinning fire kick technique that Sasuke did this chapter was something that was invented by Itachi. It's not Hiashi no Michi.

Sakura will be more involved in the next chapter but I'm not sure to what extent.

I won't include a side story here as this is already long enough.


	12. Diverging Point

Don't own Naruto. I'd prefer owning Tobi anyway.

"Speech"

'Thought'

CHAPTER 11: DIVERGING POINT

* * *

"What's with all this ice?" wondered Kisame. "Which one of you did this? I really don't like the cold, ya know."

'He didn't do this?' thought Kakashi. "Wasn't us."

"Really?" asked Kisame. "Then what's up with the ice?"

"Kakashi-sensei, do you know him?" asked Sakura unsure of their relationship with Kisame.

"Well… no," answered Kakashi.

Both Tazuna and Sakura had plenty of things they could have said about Kakashi at the moment but decided to hold their tongues on Kakashi's incredulities until after they were safe.

"But this guy does," declared Kakashi as he pointed towards Zabuza.

"Are you going to help me or what?" questioned Zabuza.

Kakashi, Tomoyo and Sakura had their weapons at their ready upon hearing that

Kisame stared at Zabuza.

"What makes you think I came here to help you?" asked Kisame.

"You goddamned friggin' shark bastard!" swore Zabuza. "Then what the hell are you doing here?!"

Kisame showed them a menacing grin.

"I just came to say 'Hi'," answered Kisame as he released an impressive amount of killing intent.

Tomoyo quickly rushed up to Kisame and swiped away at him with her dagger.

Kisame blocked it with his sword which was still wrapped up in cloth.

"You're pretty cute when you're angry," said Kisame. "It's a shame that you won't be alive for much longer."

Kisame twisted his body around as he swung his sword upwards pushing Tomoyo away. The shark like man swung his sword to the side.

Kakashi stared at the missing-nin's sword as it squirmed within the confines of the cloth that hid it from view.

'That's not normal,' thought Kakashi.

"Looks like Samehada's hungry," said Kisame as he reached for the cloth that contained Samehada with his free hand. "Guess who's it going to have for lunch."

Kisame unwrapped the topmost layer of the cloth as Kakashi threw an exploding tag attached to a kunai towards him.

Kisame swung his sword knocking away the projectile that was thrown at him towards the glacier to his right and began to perform a spinning attack with his sword.

As Kisame rotated around swinging Samehada in such a way that the cloth unraveled itself in the air.

Samehada's true form was revealed to them in the shape of a grotesque looking sword covered by huge black spikes. The sword looked to be alive as each individual spike on the sword was wriggling about.

"What kind of sword is that?" asked Sakura. "It doesn't look normal."

"That's because it's not," answered Zabuza gruffly. "That sword he is the odd one out of seven. It has a mind of its own."

Kisame grinned maniacally as Samehada's spikes began gnashing against each other even more fiercely.

Tomoyo glared at Kisame and his sword.

"Everyone, don't let it get near you," ordered Tomoyo. "As long as it's within a meter of you, Samehada can drain away your chakra."

"Oh, you know about her special ability?" said Kisame. "Not just pretty but smart too. Samehada's definitely going to enjoy tearing through your skin."

Tomoyo quickly evaluated their options knowing how slim their chances were. Kisame wasn't listed as an S ranked ninja in the bingo books for nothing.

"Kakashi-san, set Zabuza free," declared Tomoyo. "We'll need all the help we can get."

Kakashi nodded and signaled for his dogs to leave.

"You sure you want to do that, little girl?" asked Zabuza as the dogs poofed into thin air. "I might decide to turn against you when I see my chance to run."

Tomoyo glared at him.

"I know about your relationship with Hoshigaki Kisame," stated Tomoyo. "I'm sure you wouldn't want to pass up your best chance at bringing him down."

Zabuza pulled out the Kubikiri Houcho out of the ground where it had been resting since Tomoyo had set it there.

"Hmph," snorted Zabuza. "You really did your research on us didn't you?"

"I am always thorough with my work," replied Tomoyo sounding a little proud of herself.

Zabuza swung his sword down but stopped in mid-air to get a better grip on his weapon.

"Well then, shark bastard," started Zabuza. "You don't mind a five on one match do you?"

"Five?!" yelled Tazuna. "But I'm just a weak old man!"

"Didn't mean you, old man," said Zabuza. "What do you say Kisame?"

Kisame watched Zabuza get into a familiar stance.

"Don't you think that's a little unfair?" asked Kisame. "I don't mind waiting for the kid to get up. It'll level the playing field."

Zabuza snorted.

"Hey shark bastard, still remember the oath?" asked Zabuza.

Kisame's grin grew wider and Zabuza smirked in return.

"LIVE FOR DEATH!"

"AND DIE FOR BATTLE!"

With that they lunged at each other.

--

"**GRUGH!**" grunted Naruto as he felt a pillar of ice slam into his chest sending him sailing through the air over the glacier and onto the now frozen river.

Riding on a moving pillar of ice, Haku descended onto the river and stood there ready to mete out more damage.

Naruto made to get up but slipped and fell on his face. He cursed the ice for that.

Haku raised his sword up and fissures began to form around them in the frozen surface of the river.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his opponent's actions and clawed at his icy islet trying to grab hold of it.

Haku made a wave like motion with his sword and several of the newly formed islets lifted themselves up into the air revealing the water underneath.

Naruto looked around him knowing exactly what Haku intends to do with the floating islands.

That's why he started pumping chakra into his feet preparing for his next move.

Haku brought his sword down and all the floating blocks in the air zoomed towards Naruto.

Naruto released the chakra out of his feet but then something unexpected happen.

Instead of launching himself into the air, the chakra he released out of his feet shattered his foothold into pieces. This caused him to fall into the icy waters under him.

'**SHIT!**' cursed Naruto inwardly.

Naruto felt the cold flood his sense as he submerged into the cool depths of the river.

Despite his absence, the ice blocks still smashed into each other right where Naruto had been. Shards of ice flew apart from the point of impact.

Some of these shards dove into the water nearly impaling Naruto. Nearly impaling meaning that there were now two big gashes around his waist and his jumpsuit was cut up in a lot of places.

Blood flowed freely from his fresh wounds as Naruto quickly unzipped his jacket and removed it from his person.

Naruto pushed himself further underwater hoping to lose Haku's mark on him.

He did. But that didn't matter to Haku at all. Naruto had to come up eventually. If he didn't he'd die.

Haku decided it wasn't such a bad idea.

The seemingly frozen boy lifted his sword up into the air and ice began to emerge from the cross guard extending the blade's length by three meters. From that newly formed blade several branches of ice protruded outwards and stretched themselves to every part of the river that wasn't covered by ice.

Snowflakes began circling the around Haku's weapon before breaking off from the blade's main structure and along the branches until they finally reached their targets, the water.

Within moments, all of Naruto's possible escape routes froze over.

--

"Hn…" groaned Sasuke as he woke up.

"Hey, you feeling okay kid?" asked Tazuna as watched Sasuke sit up.

Sasuke looked around slowly before going into full alert the moment he saw what happening some distance away from him.

In less than a second after spotting the battle in front of him, Sasuke had discerned that someone new had just arrived and judging from the giant piece of metal and water jutsus that the blue-skinned man was assaulting his allies, it wasn't back-up.

He made to grab for his weapons but while doing so, found that his body felt sluggish and sore. He also noted that he lost another pair of shoes. He quickly stored away a mental note to buy more for the future.

"Sasuke-kun!" shouted Sakura as she saw that Sasuke had finally woken up.

Dodging a stray water jutsu, Sakura dashed over to Sasuke's side.

"THANK GOD YOU'RE ALIVE!" screamed Sakura joyfully. She embraced him in a warm hug as he came to realize why he was bandaged up in some places.

"Sakura what's going on? Who's he?" asked Sasuke referring to Kisame who had just finished a set of handseals for a jutsu that allowed him to launch razor sharp blades of water at Zabuza, who was now on the defensive, by slashing at him with Samehada. "He doesn't seem to like Zabuza very much."

"Sasuke-kun, right now he's our biggest problem," said Sakura. "He's more powerful than Kakashi-sensei, Tomoyo-oneesama and Zabuza combined. I'm barely keeping us even with him"

"Sakura," started Sasuke.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun?"

"What happened to Naruto?" asked Sasuke. "There's something wrong with air around us, what happened?"

Sakura hesitated for a moment before answering him.

"Naruto's other side came out again. He beat that hunter-nin and knocked him down into the river."

'Naruto beat him?' thought Sasuke feeling somewhat bitter at that.

"After that, that blue guy showed up and all this ice came out of nowhere. But he wasn't the one who made them."

"What do you mean he didn't make them?" questioned Sasuke.

"The ice isn't his. He hasn't even used any ice ninjutsu against us yet. He even asked Kakashi-sensei about it," explained Sakura.

Sasuke reflected on his memories from the moment he woke up and noted that none of them involved any ice ninjutsus. Just water.

"Wait… If he didn't do it then that means…" started Sasuke.

Sakura nodded.

"Naruto's still fighting the hunter-nin," finished Sakura.

Sasuke's face then became serious, his Sharingan unconsciously flaring up in his eyes as he stood up.

"Sasuke-kun! Your eyes… they've turned red! How-" said Sakura continuing to mouth some words that Sasuke couldn't quite get.

Sasuke held out a hand for Sakura to stand up.

"Sakura, stand up," ordered Sasuke.

Sakura took his hand and did so, still staring at Sasuke's now red irises.

"Sakura, you said that you were barely keeping up with that blue guy, right?" asked Sasuke rhetorically. "With these new eyes of mine, we'll do more than even the score."

Sakura quickly recollected her thoughts for battle.

"After that, we'll make sure that idiot doesn't kill himself."

--

'**DAMN HIM!**' Naruto cursed his opponent as he continued to pummel the ice wall between him and precious oxygen.

Naruto pulled back his fist once more and thrust it as fast as he could at the ice. Unfortunately, the water pressure acting on his body drastically reduced the force behind that punch so much that it didn't even make a crack in it.

Naruto knew that punching the ice underwater was a terrible idea but he couldn't think of much else to do. None of his offensive ninjutsu he was capable of would be able to help him. The ones he could pull of underwater were too weak to break the ice and the ones that were powerful enough would have ended in him drowning anyway.

Naruto then had an idea. His offensive ninjutsu might not cut it but his wind manipulation chakra might.

Naruto placed both his palms in front of him and onto the ice. He then tried to form wind chakra but found that it was difficult to do so. The strange yet powerful chakra that was flowing through him was coming out in greater amounts than his own.

But that didn't stop him from pushing out more and more wind chakra. He could feel his arms burning in pain from the ridiculous amount running through them. With every bit of his own chakra that he squeezed out, at least three times as much of the other chakra came out as well.

Naruto pushed more and more chakra out of his hands, gritting his teeth in pain. The ice was definitely cracking apart but it'd take at least a few more minutes to get through at the rate he was going.

Naruto didn't have a few minutes. He needed to get out fast.

Having decided on new measures against the cracked layer of ice that was keeping him under, Naruto pushed himself down further into the water to get some distance.

Focusing on his new task, Naruto leaked out minor amounts of wind chakra around his feet swirling the water around them.

'**NOT ENOUGH**'

Naruto poured more chakra around his legs and allowed it to spin faster. Keeping his legs locked together, Naruto picked up speed as the water swirled around his legs swirled faster and faster.

He readied his fist for one big punch and redirected himself towards the cracks he made moments ago.

Despite the fact that Naruto was moving at an impressive speed whilst underwater, he knew that it wasn't enough to break the ice. That's why two meters before his target, Naruto stopped flooding the water.

Allowing the momentum and his bouncy to carry him upwards for a brief moment, he compressed as much chakra as he could, both his and the one that kept pushing itself into his pathways, into his right hand and soles of his feet.

Feeling as if his fist was being burned from the inside, Naruto ignored the pain and released every bit of the chakra in his feet for one final burst of speed.

An explosion of energy took place just under his feet pushing him upwards that would have been impossible for even the best swimmers to travel at underwater without the aid of chakra.

As his fist impacted upon the ice, Naruto noticed something had happened to his hand.

It was covered in blood red chakra.

--

Up on the icy surface, it seemed as if as if Haku had turned into a solitary ice statue of a silently distraught human. The reason for this would be that his entire body was now composed of ice. The fact that he hadn't moved since he made the barrier between him and his opponent.

His face was painted with a mix of pain and confusion.

He didn't understand why but strange things were going through his head.

Fight

Fight

Fight

There was a slow chanting in his head that was telling him to fight. It kept egging him on to seek battle once again. His urge to strike someone down became stronger and stronger with each chant but something else had taken his attention.

He was seeing things.

He was seeing glaciers being formed before him. He was seeing icicles the size of trees being plunged into the ground. He was seeing a man create a pillar of ice. In one form or another everything he saw had ice. He saw it being used against people. He saw it being used to kill people. He was seeing so much.

Everything was happening so quickly. In a single instant, the boy felt as if he had been through countless battles.

It started off slowly with a few of them but the images intensified both in numbers and speed as time passed by. The images exploded in his head the moment he lost sight of Naruto underneath the waters.

Not knowing why he was seeing all these images, Haku subconsciously memorized everything he saw picking up more and more knowledge on battle.

Seconds flew by and his mind became weary. So weary that he wasn't even able to remember why he there in the first place. He was even beginning to lose sight of who he was.

He probably would have if it weren't for what happened next.

**BOOM**

Not very far in front of him, a powerful blast of water had erupted from underneath the ice taking with it a fairly sizable amount of the frozen floor.

Haku remained still as huge chunks of ice flew by him as he watched the water splash all over the ice allowing him to see the one behind this sudden development.

On the opposite end of the newly created hole in the ice stood Naruto wet and cold from his entrapment underneath the ice.

Despite the cool frigid air around him along with the intense pain that he was experiencing in his now limp, bloody and broken right hand, the boy's temper hadn't cooled down the least bit as his crimson red eyes now held his prey within sight.

Without so much as a warning, Naruto made his move and drove his left fist right into Haku's chest with so much force that Haku's icy body cracked all over as he was sent sailing through the air.

Haku didn't remain despondent for much longer as the chanting in his head became louder and clearer.

Twisting his body in mid-air, Haku had managed to maneuver himself back onto his feet as he returned to the ground positioning the weapon in his hand as a guard.

Sending several newly formed pillars of ice at Naruto while reforming his icy body back to perfection. The intensity of the images he was seeing seemed to have decreased somewhat but that made it much easier to hear something else.

Fight

The chant was getting stronger.

Fight

It was relentless.

**FIGHT**

He could do nothing to disobey it.

Forming several icicle spears around him, Haku pasted a crazed smile on his face as he lunged towards his opponent and sent more projectiles Naruto's way.

--

Up on the bridge a battle of equal importance and intensity was still taking place.

Kakashi dodged Kisame's destructive downward swipe at him forming seals as the sword dug deep into the bridge.

Just as Kakashi had accumulated enough chakra to bring out one of his lightning jutsus Kisame sneered and tore Samehada through the bridge sending shards of concrete towards the Konoha Jounin.

Kakashi grunted as he ended his attack prematurely. Jumping away from his opponent, Kakashi was thankful that he did as Kisame's Samehada tore through that diversion.

As the shark-like man emerged from his concrete cover, Zabuza took the chance and swung his own blade aiming to separate his legs from his torso.

His goal went unfulfilled as Kisame simply blocked with Samehada's hilt. However, the sheer force behind Zabuza's swing was enough to send him skidding backwards across the bridge.

Fortunately for them, Tomoyo was already there to stab Kisame's right shoulder with her dagger.

Despite the fact that her weapon successfully dug into the blue man's shoulder, he still somehow managed to push her away with Samehada using only his right arm shredding bits of her shirt leaving her wounded abdomen visible.

Kakashi was quick to catch her before she could fly over the bridge through one of the newly made openings in the glaciers around them while Zabuza continued to engage Kisame.

Going over her wounds, Kakashi found that there were several small but deep gashes on her right forearm and abdomen. The gashes also seemed to have burn marks along the edges of those gashes.

"Are you ok-"

"I'm fine. I can still fight," Tomoyo answering the question Kakashi wanted to ask. "I can deal with this."

Kakashi watched her take out a small silver rod out of her pouch and brought it to one of her wounds. She winced in pain as the tip of the rod glowed a hot red and the red of her wounds turned charcoal black.

"?! What are you-" said Kakashi as he made to stop her but Tomoyo's glare stopped her.

"This is only a temporary solution. It'll take a few minutes but I'll be able to fight again. Make sure you stall him long enough for me to finish," declared Tomoyo as she continued to cauterize her wounds.

Kakashi reluctantly agreed and leaped right back into battle.

It was a good time to do so as had he been a second slower, he wouldn't have made it in time to stop him from digging Samehada into the other missing-nin's stomach.

Knowing that Kakashi's kunais wouldn't be able to hold off Samehada for long, Zabuza swung his weapon at Kisame's feet.

Kisame jumped high into the air and spun around swinging upwards in the air before swing it back down releasing his grip on it sending it flying towards his adversaries.

Tazuna winced as both ninjas moved aside and let it crash into the bridge forming a formidably sized crater.

His bridge probably wasn't going to make it to the end of the battle.

Still high up in the air, Kisame swiftly formed hand seals seemingly unaffected by the weapon protruding out of one of his shoulders.

An impossibly fog mist made itself known to them as it formed itself rapidly around Kisame hiding him from his enemies.

It didn't hide for long as Kisame emerged from the fog landing next to his weapon.

Both Zabuza and Kakashi took this moment to charge in towards the shark-like man with weapons in hand hoping to end it all before Kisame could pull out Samehada out of the ground.

As the blue skinned man reached for his weapon, Zabuza leaped into the swinging his sword upwards while Kakashi shot his two kunais aimed at Kisame's face and torso.

Just as Kisame was about to grab hold of his weapon, his enemies' reached their mark. Zabuza cleaved off Kisame's right hand which held Samehada's hilt and Kakashi's weapons dug into the back of the man's head and left shoulder.

Despite these indications of victory something was wrong.

Something happened to Kisame's amputated hand, the back of his head and part of his left shoulder.

They all melted away as water.

Kisame grinned as he watched both men open their eyes wide in shock as they realized that the Kisame they were fighting wasn't the real one. It was a water clone.

Despite the fact that it wasn't the original one, this Kisame twisted his body around swinging Samehada in a round arc pushing both Zabuza and Kakashi away before throwing it towards Tomoyo bursting into water as he did.

Despite the mixture of pain and heat that seared through his now badly injured forearm Kakashi was still able to see the giant blade embed itself into the bridge right next to Tomoyo.

Relief didn't follow the disappearance of the water clone as the real Kisame descended from the fog above them and landed in front of Tomoyo.

Kisame grinned menacingly as he pulled Samedhada out of the bridge.

"That really hurt, you know," said Kisame as he pointed towards the dagger still embedded in his shoulder. "I'm going to have to pay you back for it."

Tomoyo grit her teeth as she helplessly watched Kisame lift his blade over his head.

"Itadakimasu."

Kisame brought down his sword.

--

"Damn it!" cursed Naruto.

He's been busy dodging the ridiculous number of ice spears that Haku had been throwing at him. It was a miracle that he was able to avoid being impaled so far given the fact that his underwater escape took a lot out of him.

He restarted his fight with Haku moving on a 'high' originating from the amount of Kyuubi's chakra that had been running through his systems but that 'high' soon faded away with the malicious chakra leaving him to work with his now mostly gone reserves.

Despite his lack of chakra, he was somehow able to anticipate the ice spears course much quicker than while he was running on Kyuubi's chakra.

It was unfortunate for him that Haku was just getting started with his attacks as the chanting in his head became harder and harder to ignore as time passed by.

Deciding that he had enough of flying spears, Haku went on to try a different approach.

Dodging the last of the ice spears, Naruto pumped out some wind chakra through his feet and shot off towards the androgynous boy with a kunai in his left hand. His right hand was still as limp as it had been after the escape.

In retaliation Haku raised a wall of ice in Naruto's path in an attempt to stop him.

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate for the leaf genin, the ice wall wasn't thick enough to stop him as his body broke through it from the sheer speed of his leap.

It seems that his Reppu no Hou was much more effective above ground than underwater.

But without chakra boosting his endurance, he still felt a lot of pain as he crashed through it.

Landing just in front of Haku, Naruto took the advantage of his surprise to slice through Haku's neck.

This might have worked if Haku still had flesh. Unfortunately for the blonde, he wasn't.

Naruto's attack was returned with a pillar of ice emerging from the icy surface of the lake and ramming into him.

Haku watched as Naruto was thrown high into the air by his ice pillar. He formed several more around his opponent and directed them at the blonde.

Realizing that he'd be dead if he got hit by anymore of those ice pillars, Naruto desperately poured as much chakra as he could out of his feet.

It was no use. His Reppu no Hou had little to no effect in the air.

Regardless of the technique's effectiveness or Haku's aim, the first of the newly formed ice pillars brushed past Naruto's body missing its mark.

Seeing his chance to cheat death, Naruto kicked off the ice pillar and launched himself past two of the other pillars aimed at him.

Skidding across the ice as he landed a good distance away from Haku, Naruto cursed his now fully exhausted chakra reserves. He already used enough to put him away in the hospital for at least a week's worth of chakra depletion treatment.

Naruto was now staggering from the pain and exhaustion that permeated his entire body.

'Hah… everything's so blurry…' thought Naruto as he tried to make sense of what his eyes were seeing.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn't able to make sense of it in time as a pillar of ice slammed into the boy.

Haku didn't stop there.

The ice pillar that Naruto's body was riding on kept on going until it collided into the glacier that was surrounding the bridge crushing the boy.

After a brief moment of silence, Haku was sure that Naruto had finally died but that idea went out the window the moment he saw the blonde's hand clawing at the ice pillar still crushing his body.

Going in for the overkill, Haku raised up several more pillars around Naruto's location.

In a snake-like fashion, the ice pillars stood still for a moment before all at once they twisted and dove in on the blonde.

Now certain of his invincibility and Naruto's death, Haku started walking towards the bridge now overflowing with murderous intentions.

--

As soon as his body got smashed into the glacier, he found himself inside sewers of mind once.

"**BOY…**"

Kyuubi's growl vibrated through the halls of his mind.

"**GET OVER HERE!**"

Naruto briefly wondered about what the fox could possibly want to speak to him about as he walked towards the fox's area.

Within what felt like a few minutes to Naruto, he was there right in front of the fox's cage.

"What do you want?" questioned the blonde.

"**WOULD YOU AGREE WITH ME WHEN I SAY THAT WE SEEM TO MEET ONLY WHEN YOU ARE AT DEATH'S DOOR?**"

Naruto's mind went blank as he tried to process what he had just heard.

"Say what?"

"**WOULD YOU SAY THAT WE ONLY SEEM TO MEET WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO DIE?**"

"… Did you call me here just to ask me that?"

"**NO. I JUST FELT LIKE MESSING WITH YOU.**"

"You need a hobby."

"**I HAVE NOTHING TO DO AROUND HERE. THE ONLY THING I CAN DO BESIDES SLEEPING IS BOTHER YOU AND EVEN THAT'S HARD TO DO BECAUSE OF THIS ACCURSED SEAL.**"

For good measure, the fox slammed itself into the cage bars. Aside from the ankle deep water splashing about nothing else came out of the fox's body slam.

"So? Deal with it. You brought it on yourself."

The fox stared at the blonde intently from the inside of his cage. He noticed that like last time they met, the boy wasn't acting as he usually would in the real world. He was much less emotional in his own mind.

"**BOY, WHY IS IT THAT YOU SEEM SO MUCH QUIETER IN HERE THAN OUTSIDE?**"

Naruto tilted his head at that question.

"**YOU SHOULD BE HATING AND INSULTING ME FOR ATTACKING YOUR VILLAGE OR BETTER YET BE WORRIED ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS. THE ONLY REASON YOU'RE STILL ALIVE IS BECAUSE OF ME, THEY WON'T FARE AS WELL AS YOU DID FROM FIGHTING THAT MONSTER.**"

"I… don't know," answered Naruto.

The boy looked up at the fox with a look of befuddlement.

"I don't really know why… but down here I feel calmer," said the boy. "I'm not supposed to feel calmer. I should be angry at you. Whenever I hear the adults whispering about me and you, I'd want to make you disappear. I'd want to eliminate you from my life forever. But down here…"

Naruto went silent.

The fox pondered about this odd shift in the boy's personality. It wasn't like when Naruto was using its chakra. That malice and rage that flowed through the boy while using it was a result of the fox's memories weaved into its chakra.

Its memories gave the fox power and it was because of its many memories that the fox had near limitless power.

In fact, its presence alone should have driven Naruto furious whether or not the boy hated him or not. Something else was at work here. But all that did was make Naruto seem more interesting to it.

"**BOY, I DO NOT WHY IS IT THAT YOU ARE LIKE THIS WHENEVER YOU ARE HERE BUT I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING.**"

"What is it?"

"**IT'S ABOUT THAT MAN REIJI. THE ONE WHO BLURTED OUT YOUR HERITAGE LIKE IT WAS COMMON KNOWLEDGE.**"

"What about him?"

"**DO NOT TRUST HIM. I WON'T TELL YOU WHY BUT ONE DAY, THAT MAN WILL BETRAY YOU. AND IF YOU ARE NOT READY TO KILL HIM BY THAT TIME, YOU AND I WILL DESCEND INTO NOTHINGNESS.**"

"Huh? What?"

"**YOU NEED TO GET STRONGER. MUCH STRONGER. AND YOU NEED TO DO THAT QUICKLY. YOU NEED TO BECOME STRONG ENOUGH TO USE MY POWER. MY FUTURE DEPENDS ON THAT.**"

"What are you talking about? I shouldn't even be listening to you."

"**…**"

For once, the giant fox was silent.

"What's the deal between you and him?"

"**BOY… SOMEONE UP ON THE BRIDGE JUST DIED.**"

"What?! Who?!" demanded the blonde finally showing signs of concern towards his friends.

"**I AM NOT SURE BUT WHOEVER IT WAS, DIED AFTER HAVING A GIANT SWORD PIERCE THROUGH THEIR BODY.**"

Naruto turned his head to the floor.

"…I'm going to need your chakra."

"**YOUR BODY CAN'T HANDLE ANYMORE. YOU WILL GO THROUGH HELL IF YOU USE ANYMORE OF IT.**"

Naruto glared at the gigantic fox and gave him the last words of their conversation.

"**I don't care. I'm taking it!**"

Blood red eyes stared down into similarly colored ones as the water around Naruto turned deep red and swallowed him whole leaving no trace of him when the water finally calmed down.

The fox was surprised at this turn of events. It wasn't surprised that Naruto would go off to save his friends. It wasn't surprised to that he would even go through hell for them.

It was surprised that Naruto was able to call up its chakra when it didn't will it to.

"**WAS IT BECAUSE OF THE MEMORIES IN THEM? OR DID HIS BODY ADAPT ITSELF TO HANDLE MORE?**"

Kyuubi sat there silently in its cage wondering how it happened.

"**NO MATTTER. THIS JUST MEANS MY ODDS HAVE IMPROVED.**"

With that the grinning fox retreated to the darker recesses of its cage.

* * *

Wow it's been a long time since I worked on this story. I had this half done for months but never got around to finishing it up. Originally it was a quarter done but because the more I wrote, the more it seemed like a good idea to leave it at a cliffhanger before getting to the end of the bridge battle. So some of the promises I made last chapter will be postponed to next chapter but hopefully I'll be able to pull it off well.

I'd really appreciate more reviews. I still need to know how I'm doing with this and at which parts I need to improve on. Hopefully you guys aren't confused with how things are going storywise since I don't want it to be predictable but the next few chapters are going to have more questions than answers.

No side story this time since I want to get started on the next chapter. Until I do put up the chapter, have fun wondering why I gave this chapter the title diverging point.

Next up, "Paths to Power".


	13. Paths to Power

Don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't need to write disclaimers.

"Speech"

'Thought'

CHAPTER 12: PATHS TO POWER

"Haaaah~"

Yawning can be seen as the body's attempt to take in oxygen when there is a lack of it in the system.

Seeing where Reiji was at the moment, it would be natural for him to yawn.

Rubbing his face to rid himself of the sleepiness brought on by his yawn, Reiji wondered to himself how much longer he would have to wait.

It's been a few minutes since Naruto was crushed by Haku's freezing might and since then the blonde ceased showing any sign of consciousness. The fact that Kisame's fog technique was still in effect and preventing him from seeing the fight taking place underneath didn't help the man's boredom.

Craning his head upward the man proceeded to complain with someone in mind.

"Get moving already. I really don't have anything else better to do right now…"

Despite the fact that there were no humans around to hear him and that any birds passing by would not be able to understand what he was talking about, Reiji seemed to be talking to someone.

A second later some sort of loud but indistinct noise reached his ears.

Looking back down, Reiji saw what appeared to be an orange blur speeding away from the bridge making a one hundred eighty degree turn as soon as it reached the edge of the frozen portion of the river below him.

'Did he actually hear me?' wondered Reiji out loud.

From there, the orange blur quickly took off in the direction it came from except it leaped onto the glacier on the east side of the bridge just before it could crash into the huge ice structure.

The momentum from its jump carried on in the orange blur's landing as it seemed to slide upwards along the glacier until it came to a stop. After securing some footing, it disappeared into the fog with another dash up the glacier much to Reiji's chagrin.

"Damn. What am I supposed to do now?"

He would have to choose between options A or B. A would have him go down to get a close up view of the fight and have Tomoyo nag him into helping and B would be to stay where he was until the fog dissipated which looked to be at least a good ten minutes away.

Luckily for him, option C made itself known.

The slothful leader of Jukuchi Sesou had finally taken notice of the boat that had been stuck in the iced over river on the west side of the bridge. Apparently, the huge number of men inside have just decided to walk over to their destination.

Contemplating his new choice for a moment, Reiji moved in closer to get a better view of the men coming out of the boat.

"There's at least fifty of them…"

Within two seconds of approximating the number of people walking towards the bridge, Reiji made his decision.

"I haven't had a good brawl in ages… I should fix that," said the man as he swooped in towards the boat.

---------

Gatou was a man known for keeping grudges. It didn't matter whether the ones who had crossed him were women, children, weak or old. He was an exceptionally petty man who'd always settle these grudges no matter how small. If someone ticked him off, they'd be in for a nasty surprise.

Zabuza and his subordinate were no different.

After being scared half to death by Zabuza's young charge, Gatou couldn't stop himself from figuring out ways to make the young boy pay for making him soil his favorite pair of pants.

But right now he was reconsidering his pettiness. Seeing all this ice come out of nowhere forced him to question whether six dozen men were actually enough to take out the ninjas he had hired. But his men were already out on the ice and the boat was rendered immobile thanks to the ice so he figured there's no turning back.

Taking a deep breath, Gatou stepped up to the front of his ship got ready for his speech. A speech that would have involved telling his men that there'd be extra for whoever brought him the head of the smaller one if he hadn't gotten kicked off his boat.

Landing painfully face first onto the ice, the crooked businessman tried not cry from having his nose broken.

"Yo! Nice boat you got here," greeted Reiji who stood right where Gatou had been just a moment ago.

Covering his bloody nose his right hand, Gatou turned his back to the ice and looked up. What he saw was a man clad in a brown cloak covering his entire body, save for his head as the man pulled back his hood.

Gatou was already steaming from being kicked in the rear and off his precious boat but seeing Reiji's smug face only served to worsen his temper.

Grinning unremorsefully, Reiji was more than ready to get things started. He pointed thumb back out to the boat and began his provocation.

"Is it okay if I take it?"

Hearing Reiji's taunt, Gatou decided it was time indulge in another grudge.

"GEDD HIIIIIIIIIIM!" shouted short angry man.

---------

CLANG!

Tomoyo watched as Kisame swung Samehada back up just before it reached her to knock away a giant shuriken that would have sliced through his arms and chest, if he had gone on to kill her.

With his attention drawn towards the boy who had sent the bladed throwing weapon at him, Kisame didn't have much time to avoid the hail of kunai and shuriken coming at him from somewhere up in the fog cloud. It took years of experience and skill to avoid something like that.

Kisame had all that in spades as he quickly stepped to the side, spun around and swung his blade around redirecting the weapons that back at their source.

Hearing footsteps coming from behind, the missing-nin twisted around once more and swung down at the blue and white clad boy he saw in front of him.

He quickly realized he had made a mistake as the sword cut through thin air. It wasn't that he missed. In fact his sword had cut through its target, it's just that his target wasn't Sasuke.

It was an illusion.

Using that illusion, the caster broke through Kisame's guard, grappled around him and gave the dagger jammed in his shoulder a powerful kick driving it further into Kisame's flesh wedging itself firmly in between his right shoulder's ball and socket joint.

Kisame grunted in pain as he backhanded his attacker away with his left fist sending that person sailing through the air who in turn used the momentum from the blow to move outside of Kisame's range.

Kisame didn't intend to send his attacker outside of his reach since he expected Itachi's little brother to try and block it keeping him in range for a follow-up attack.

Unfortunately for the shark man, the person who he had backhanded was not Sasuke but Sakura meaning that he most likely had another assault coming up.

Sasuke, who was clinging to a glacier and concealed by the fog cloud up above them quickly formed a set of hand seals as soon as Sakura was out of his technique's range.

A great ball of fire soon emerged from the fog heading towards Kisame who found himself now incapable of moving his right arm.

Focusing chakra into his left hand, Kisame grabbed hold of Samehada and slammed its broad side into the fireball.

Struggling at first, Kisame tried to nullify the attack with Samehada's special ability pushing the blade through the middle of the fireball.

On the verge of canceling out the Katon jutsu, Kisame heard two clinks coming from behind him followed by a sizzle.

Knowing from experience what those sounds meant, Kisame swung Samehada back diving through the now mostly extinguished fire just in time to escape the brunt of the explosions behind him.

What met him on the other side of the fire was another barrage of throwing weapons which he blocked by slamming Samehada into the ground and ducking behind his extraordinarily sized sword.

Taking cover, Kisame decided that the blade stuck in him needed to be pulled out right away and let blood spurt out of his shoulder grunting in pain before throwing Tomoyo's dagger aside.

Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Kisame slammed his shoulder against Samehada's broadside popping it back into place. Forming hand seals fairly quickly despite his injury, Kisame kicked Samehada's tip up into the air and hid under it blocking the Fuuma shuriken that Sasuke aimed to hit him with.

Sakura was still readying herself for one last shuriken and kunai assault when she saw Kisame finish the mandatory hand seals for his technique.

Grabbing Samehada's hilt Kisame swung it around shooting off high pressured streams of water at Sakura and where he thought Sasuke would be.

Sakura didn't have much time to dodge so it was inevitable that the water stream hit her and knocked her off her feet. It was only thanks to Sasuke's Sharingan that he was able to dodge Kisame's attack but that wouldn't stop Kisame from sending more his way.

It was a good thing that Zabuza did.

Kisame and Zabuza engaged in combat once more as they traded blows with each other's swords. Despite their injuries, both men were fighting ferociously, uncaring of the blood they were losing.

Out of weapons having given most of them to Sakura, Sasuke's only options were close quarter combat or his Katon jutsus. Unfortunately he couldn't really pull off either as Zabuza was engaging in close combat himself. He could take them both out at the same time but that last Goukakyuu no Jutsu used up most of the chakra he regained from the soldier pill he took. Another one would be severely weakened thanks to the humidity and smaller chakra source.

Sasuke cursed his lack of options.

Looking around Sasuke noted that Tomoyo just finished binding her wounds with bandages, Tazuna seems to have taken their advice and left, Kakashi was nowhere to be seen and Sakura was lying on the ground groaning in pain.

With fighting a non-viable option at the moment, Sasuke ran off towards Sakura to assist her.

---------

Meanwhile, Kisame's partner was waiting for him in the woods. He also happened to be munching down on sticks of chocolate coated pocky like a squirrel.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Finishing the last of the convenient snack, Itachi stood up from the wooden stump he was sitting on.

"I'm going to kill that idiot…"

Apparently, he didn't like waiting for people.

---------

Staggering from the powerful blow he blocked with his sword, Zabuza tried not to let exhaustion get the better of him. Kisame always had him beaten in terms of stamina. In fact it was one of the very reasons he resented the man.

Though it seems he'll have to carry that resentment onto the next life as Kisame had taken advantage of Zabuza's momentary weakness to deliver another swing at him.

It was fortunate for him that Kakashi finally decided to show up. Not literally though, as all he did was pull Kisame down into the hole he dug throwing off Kisame's aim giving Zabuza a breather.

The Konoha jounin emerged out of the ground not very far from Kisame from another hole similar to Kisame's.

Instantly evaluating how badly Zabuza was shaking and the amount of effort it took him to dig that hole, Kakashi judged that they really needed to finish the blue skinned man as soon as possible.

Forming four hand seals as he ran, Kakashi called upon his own original technique, Raikiri. The sounds of a thousand chirping birds emanated from the crackling blue chakra in Kakashi's hand as the technique came to life.

Focused on thrusting his hand into Kisame's head, Kakashi didn't notice that the Samehada sword on the ground was wriggling around, a bluish tint around it.

Just as Kakashi's hand was about to make contact with Kisame's head, the chakra he had in his hand dissipated away.

It didn't really matter though as Kisame managed to squirm his way further down into the hole avoiding Kakashi's palm entirely.

Not understanding why his attack fizzled out so suddenly, Kakashi tried his best not to stumble and fall. It was a good thing that he managed to stop himself from falling into the hole as Kisame had used it to his advantage and turned it into an impromptu geyser.

Soaked from rising out of the geyser, Kisame finished up a set of hand seals and flooded the bridge with water. Having the Kubikiri Houcho to support him, Zabuza stood his ground while Kakashi got swept away in the flash flood.

Landing next to Samehada, Kisame quickly picked it up and slammed it against the Kubikiri Houcho with such force that Zabuza was forced to let it fly right out of his hands.

Without his weapon and thoroughly exhausted for fighting for so long and so intensely, Zabuza could do nothing to stop Kisame from grabbing him by throat with his left hand.

Raising the Demon of the Mist up into the air, Kisame grinned his shark-like grin and asked the demon a question.

"Any last words buddy?"

Looking death in the eyes, Zabuza spat out his answer.

"Go to hell."

Kisame's grin grew wider.

"I'll see you there."

Feeling great pain coursing through him, Zabuza grunted in pain as his blood splattered all around him.

---------

Feeling warm despite being encased in ice, Naruto woke up from his blackout.

His red eyes scanning his surroundings, the blonde called up the strength he needed to escape. The ice around the boy started to melt as red chakra sprang forth from his body condensing itself around Naruto's body.

Not aware that his whisker scars were deepening in color and his overall appearance was becoming quite feral, Naruto gathered the chakra he had and willed it to explode.

The red chakra around him receded for a moment before it burst forth from him much like one of his explosive tags.

Except that it was many times more powerful.

With a great boom, Naruto's ice prison blew up, huge ice chunks sent flying in every direction away from him.

Taking less than an instant to see that Haku wasn't around, Naruto reasoned that he needed to get back up on the bridge and started running away from it at incredible speed.

Red chakra materializing around him as he ran, Naruto planned out where he'd jump to get back on the bridge.

Twisting his body around with a hand turned claw dug into the ice beneath him, Naruto turned around in time to stop himself from running off the ice.

Dashing back towards the bridge Naruto mentally prepared himself for the precise timing of the jump and his original jutsu as the chakra around his head formed to ear like extensions.

Triggering Reppu no Hou with the powerful red chakra at his disposal, Naruto flew high up into the air towards bridge as a tail-like appendage made of red chakra formed itself from his chakra aura.

Landing up on the higher regions of one of the glaciers, Naruto snarled as he made his way onto the bridge, ice instantly vaporizing wherever his fox like chakra aura touched.

---------

Zabuza watched Kisame let go of him and jump back a good distance while holding a hand over the newly inflicted wound on his abdomen.

Finding it odd that he was still suspended in the air despite the fact that Kisame had let go of him, Zabuza almost missed hearing Kisame's words.

"Nice one there girlie. Didn't think you leaf people had it in them to do that to a friend," said the shark-like man obviously in pain. 'Although, Itachi _did_ massacre his family…'

Glancing down for a moment, Zabuza saw the blade of his Kubikiri Houcho protruding out halfway through his stomach.

Someone was holding him up in the air using his sword.

"That's because I'm not from the leaf. I came from the same place you did."

Kisame grinned despite the pain he was feeling.

Understanding that he was going to black out soon, most likely for the last time, Zabuza turned his head to get a better look at his killer.

Tomoyo made eye contact with the dying man, showing absolutely no remorse for her act. In fact, there were traces of a smirk there.

Tomoyo swung the sword to the side with both hands sliding Zabuza off the weapon and sending him flying through the air.

Instead of landing on the ground like Tomoyo intended, Zabuza was caught in mid-air by someone. Zabuza looked up at the person who caught him as he was laid down on the ground.

Closing his eyes for the final time, Zabuza called out to that person.

"Haku…"

The aforementioned boy looked down at his mentor with a blank expression pasted on his face.

---------

'Who is he?'

Unable to comprehend why he had caught the man in mid-air lay him down on the ground.

The chanting in his head quieted down as he did.

'Why is he looking at me?'

"Haku…"

'Who is that?'

Not understanding who this man was or the familiar sensation as he watched him die, the boy who did not recognize his own name could only stare at him.

He slowly looked away from the man and saw a young woman holding onto a large nostalgic looking sword and a kneeling blue-skinned man looking at him with surprised expressions.

Emotion stirred within him.

The chanting roared back to life.

---------

Dropping down on her knees, Tomoyo employed a strategy not unlike one Kisame had used earlier and hid behind the now ownerless Kubikiri Houcho.

She felt the temperature drop several degrees as Haku pelted her and Kisame with icicles.

Kisame on the other hand dove into the water filled tunnel that Kakashi dug to trap him.

Despite what they were doing, the both of them were thinking the same thing.

'Why does he have one of the Maken?!'

Knowing full well what a demonic weapon can do, Kisame decided to take the initiative.

Driving Samehada up through the tunnel's ceiling, Kisame spun around tearing the ground above him.

Within moments Kisame leaped out of the pool of water.

Followed by another Kisame.

Soon enough there would be five Kisames moving around on the bridge dodging icicles.

Each one was doing their best to get closer to Haku but doing so only made Haku shoot more icicles at them.

Taking advantage of the distraction that the Kisames were providing her, Tomoyo flung the Kubikiri Houcho at Haku slicing off Haku's entire left shoulder and arm.

Instead of crying out in pain Haku raised the demon sword he was holding up above his head.

The demon sword glowed white for a moment before strong icy winds and white sleet burst forth from behind him. Shaking off the chill she was feeling, Tomoyo got out of the way of an ice pillar that was intended to slamming into her.

All of the pillars aimed at the Kisames hit marks though.

Tomoyo soon understood why that was.

They were all water clones and were most likely distractions.

Tomoyo cursed Kisame's name as Haku now had his full attention on her.

------------

Down on the iced over river was Kisame.

Catching his breath, Kisame strapped Samehada to his back while holding a hand over his still open wound.

Looking ahead of him, he saw what appeared to be an angry mob fighting amongst themselves on a boat in the distance.

Normally he'd join in but his adrenaline would soon stop flowing through his veins so he had to get away while pain was still tolerable.

Turning his back to the fight, Kisame met the eyes of his partner.

Appearing to be quite irritated with him, Itachi glossed over the state that Kisame was in and said, "You need medical attention."

At first Kisame looked to be relieved at hearing that but that relief soon faded away with his consciousness.

With one hand raised into a chop, Itachi looked down on the man he had just knocked out.

"Kakuzu's going to be mad about this," said the Uchiha as he thought back on the last time someone tore up their uniform that badly.

Itachi bent down as he made to pick up his partner and lifted him onto his shoulder.

Focusing his chakra to his feet, Itachi prepared himself to launch forward.

Fire burst forth from just below the soles of his shoes as Itachi pushed himself towards the embankment on the side melting away the ice under him.

Slowing down just a bit before the ice ended, Itachi ducked down for bit and braced his legs for the next push.

Leaping forwards, Itachi let loose an inferno under him creating a great amount of steam as he skimmed across the surface of the river.

---------

Not knowing why, Sasuke suddenly felt a lot more irritated than he had been moments before. He was sure it had something to do with someone who was a pain in the neck.

Laying Sakura against the bridge's stone railing, Sasuke quickly formulated a plan of attack against the new threat.

Rushing ahead, Sasuke threw a kunai at Haku who still hadn't noticed him.

The throwing weapon had met its target but it simply rebounded off the boy as he was no longer made of flesh. Despite the ineffectiveness of the attack, it still gained Haku's attention.

Now looking at Sasuke, Haku decided to send some icicles his way. Fortunately for Sasuke however, the explosive tag he wrapped around the kunai's handle detonated before that could happen.

Ready to fire another one at Haku, Sasuke stopped in his tracks as heard Kakashi call out to him. Glancing back, he saw Kakashi cradling the still unconscious Sakura in his arms looking thoroughly exhausted.

"Sasuke, it's time to fall back," said the man. "Tazuna-san is going to hate us for this but we have no choice."

Seeing Tomoyo run past him, Sasuke looked back at Haku. It seems that the explosion didn't faze him in the slightest. In fact, part of his left arm actually seemed to have regenerated itself while he was talking to Kakashi.

Despite seeing that act of power, Sasuke readied the remaining explosive tags he had on him for one last attack.

"You go ahead," said Sasuke. "I'll distract him."

"I've got that covered," shouted Kakashi. "Save those for later just in case. We just need to get out of here."

Sasuke frowned. He did not know what Kakashi had planned and but decided to obey his superior's commands.

During their exchange Haku had decided to shoot more icicles at them. With the use of one and a half arms, Haku directed his attacks at the two fleeing ninja. His attempts were made futile when they dodged them all too easily.

Grasping the handle of his blade with both hands, Haku prepared an attack of a much larger scale. No one would see what that was as two other events coincided with the moment he chose to unleash it.

The first would be that Naruto dropped out of the mist above him and slammed a tremendously powerful demon chakra enhanced fist into him.

The second would be that the explosive tags that Kakashi set up around them exploded all at once, collapsing their end of the bridge on itself and obscuring them from the retreating party's view.

None of the escaping party saw Naruto go down with Haku and their end of the bridge.

---------

As a third of the bridged collapsed and fell to pieces, Naruto followed up his punch with a powerful kick to Haku's left side. The sheer force behind it was enough to shatter bones but the result was much worse than that.

Naruto's leg completely cut through half of Haku's newly regenerated left arm and a huge portion of his lower torso before the momentum sent Haku a good distance away from the bridge and onto their previous battlefield.

Naruto fell with the broken bridge and Haku lost sight of him as dust clouds enveloped the area around the demonic boy.

Haku stood up as he quickly willed his body to regenerate from the would have been fatal wounds he suffered had he been made of flesh. There was a huge gap on the left side of his abdomen and part of his head had melted away where Naruto punched him.

By the time Naruto emerged from the result of the collapsed bridge, Haku had almost finished regenerating his missing body parts. Naruto seemed to have been waiting for him as he had obviously taken his time to walk out of the mess.

Both boys were a good distance away from each other but close enough to meet each other's gaze.

Doing his best to ignore the various sensations he was feeling, Haku turned his attention to Naruto's face. It had that feral quality to it again only far more apparent. The whisker marks were much wider and much darker than they had been before, his teeth turned into sharp intimidating fangs and his hair now had a reddish tint to it. On top of all that, there was now burning hot red chakra covering him from head to toe.

For all of his beastly features and that red fox-like aura around him, all of that did not affect Haku as much as Naruto's now red eyes did all on their own. It wasn't so much the fact that they looked and reeked of evil but the emotion they were expressing. Or rather, the emotions they weren't showing.

Haku couldn't see any trace of the anger, hatred or malice in Naruto's eyes like the rest of him boasted. Those crimson red eyes simply stared at him expressing an impassiveness that shouldn't have been there. It was as if he was looking into an endlessly dark abyss in the middle of a sea of flames.

Haku felt the pain in his chest intensify as a sudden sense of dread filled his existence. Ice melted away as the red chakra touched it and seeing as how Haku was now made of ice, it would be in his best interest to get away from Naruto.

And yet… the voice called out to him.

It wanted him to fight.

It wanted him to die fighting.

And even with the absolute terror Haku felt but did not comprehend, he surrendered himself to the voice's whim.

Death was certain but Haku had no qualms to give. As he stood there ready to strike, Haku had nothing else in him but the compulsion to obey the voice and fight.

Haku lunged at Naruto with a will that wasn't his own.

Naruto stood there with death right by his side.

---------

Naruto was enjoying the power that was coursing through him. He had never felt so much chakra flowing through his body before so he took the time to savour the sensation as he waited for Haku to make his move.

Dark thoughts were zipping through his mind and all of them ended in a gruesome way for his opponent to die. He favored one idea in particular where Haku needed to be in the air.

It was a stroke of luck that Haku decided to leap into the air so he decided to carry out that plan.

Unleashing powerful demon chakra fueled Reppu no Hou, Naruto flew right into the air and gave Haku a good strong kick in the chest.

At the same time that happened, Naruto's chakra aura stretched its right arm to grab hold of the icy boy to stop Haku from flying away.

Naruto twisted his body in the air and hit Haku with another kick to send him crashing down onto the ice.

The thick layer of ice that covered the lake cracked on Haku's impact.

Ignoring the various missing portions of his body that melted away at Naruto's attacks. Haku quickly got up to fight back but Naruto's chakra arms slammed him back down onto the ice.

Haku pulled out even more power from the sword in his hands to counter his rapid loss of body mass but Naruto rendered that attempt futile on his next move.

Allowing himself to fall towards Haku, Naruto forced his real hands into the still regenerating parts of Haku's body and unleashed massive amounts of chakra as wildly as he could into his enemy slamming him onto the cracking ice as he did.

Despite the lack of pain, Haku felt his body tear apart from Naruto's chakra faster than he was regenerating it. It was even regenerating faster than ever before but Naruto's attack was doing twice as much damage as he was recovering.

Haku raised his right arm to cut down his feral opponent but Naruto ripped out his own hand right out of Haku's body to grab hold of the blade. Even it threatened to break under the demonic aura.

Blood dripped from the Jinchuuriki's hand onto Haku's face and this made the boy twist his head to the side.

It was only then he saw a huge mass of red chakra gathering above them.

Recognizing the startled look on Haku's face, Naruto grinned menacingly at the boy.

"**See that? It's going to hurt a lot**" taunted the boy.

With those words, Naruto brought down the chakra blob down on the both of them.

----------

Reiji smirked as he stood on top of a pile of bodies. Some were dead and some were just knocked out but all of them wouldn't be moving on their own any time soon.

Gatou watched all of his men fall all too easily to the man in the cloak and was just about to lose control of his bladder after witnessing the brutality the man was capable of.

"Y-you!! W-what?! Wh-who are you?!" managed the terrified merchant.

"Me? I…" started Reiji but stopped as he caught sight of something in the distance. "… have to go. See ya!"

Gatou stood there in shock as Reiji abruptly took the skies.

CRACK

Gatou quickly turned his attention to the cracks forming in the ice beneath him but before he could process what was going on, a wave of blinding light, searing heat and screaming winds swallowed him up completely.

----------

Thanks to his sharp senses Kakashi knew when he needed to dodge unseen attacks in battle. That's why he knew that something big was coming.

"Everyone! Get behind me!!" said the man as he raised a wide wall of dirt almost instantly.

Recognizing the panic in Kakashi's voice, everyone did as he said.

----------

Within the sphere of light, sound and heat, Haku found himself on the brink of destruction.

His body was disappearing right before him.

He couldn't feel anything.

He tried to call up more power from his sword but it too was crumbling apart with him.

There was nothing he could do but accept his death.

He closed his eyes for the last time as his body was devoured by the power of a demon.

----------

Reiji watched as the sphere of red and white light swallowed everything around it.

It was a minute before the effects of Naruto's attack subsided completely.

Reiji floated down to the dried up river bed that Naruto lay unconscious in, taking note of the destructive power that Naruto had just demonstrated.

The landscape was now completely different from what it was before as water slowly filled up the newly formed depressions in the river. Steam was rising up from where the water touched burnt ground.

Less than a fifth of the bridge remained with most of its surface melted away from the heat it was exposed to. It seems that the heat did not travel as far as the light had covered, only near the center of the explosion.

Beyond that, a few trees were uprooted and many of the still standing ones were missing branches and leaves.

Reiji walked up to the unconscious demon vessel in tattered clothing and considered how this event would affect the future.

"Well done fox… I didn't think your keeper would be able to pull out this much power out of you" said Reiji to the demon in the boy.

Reiji could not hold back his mirth as he smiled at the destruction around him.

"He even destroyed one of the swords I made. You really might have a chance at winning this."

He pulled Naruto up by his hair and lifted him so their faces were almost touching.

"Remember. You've only got three years left to get things right. If you mess it up, you're going to die along with the rest."

Reiji swung the teenager onto his shoulder and began walking towards the bridge.

"Don't disappoint me."

It's been more than a year since I touched this thing. I have no excuses other than I forgot about this even though this chapter was almost finished for that long. I had to rework though since it's been a long time since I wrote for this story. I find that even though my past writing skills had an embarrassing number of typos and missing words and also sloppy presentation, the chapters I wrote before this were actually entertaining enough for me to read them over before I edited this chapter.

I don't really have much of a motivation for me to actually finish this story since I've got a whole bunch of other projects I have to pursue but I'm somewhat reluctant to just let the ideas I had go to waste so here's the deal; I'm going to write up one more chapter to conclude this arc and if I don't get enough reviews to motivate me into writing another chapter then I'll just post up what I had planned for the rest of the story as the last entry so that readers who were following this story would at least know how it was meant to end. Until then, please look forward to what may be the last chapter I'll write for this story.


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